Insomnia
by ShepsAngel
Summary: What happens when you let a severely sleep deprived physicist and a severely sleep deprived Air Force Colonel loose in the city of Atlantis.Gen Team fic, with SheppardMcKay whump
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Firstly, for those of you reading my other story, I haven't abandoned it. I am still working on it, and it will be finished. I found out yesterday about NaNoWriMo, and have decided to give it a go, writing an SGA novel of course. I've had the idea for this story for a long time, just never got around to writing it, and now seemed like the perfect oppurtunity.

Anyway, this is a team fic, set in Season 3. What happens when you mix a severally sleep deprived physicist, with a severally sleep deprived Air Force Colonel in a city full of Ancient technology.

It's going to be a long one, seeing as I have to write 50,000 words in the next month for NaNoWriMo, but if the length of this chapter is anything to go I think that I might actually end up going over that.

Enough of my ramblings. Hope you enjoy, and if you do, please review.

Now been beta'd by the wonderful Jennifer, although all remaining mistakes are my own.

"I don't understand, Sheppard, why you would abandon your planet when it was being invaded by Giant Alien Spaceships." Ronon was glaring at him, and he _seemed_ serious enough. Of course, as Ronon only ever seemed to have one default expression, it was hard to tell what he was really feeling.

Sheppard rolled his eyes as he heard Rodney suppress a snort in the background.

"I have tried to tell Ronon, several times," Teyla sounded exasperated, "that what we saw last night was simply a movie, that it was not real. However, he does not seem to want to listen."

Rodney snorted again, "Probably too much for his tiny mind to handle."

"Rodney!" Sheppard admonished. "I'm slightly confused though, what is he talking about? Giant Spaceships?" He quirked one eyebrow in a puzzled expression before turning back to face Rodney.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot you weren't there." Of course he had known that Sheppard hadn't been at the weekly team movie session, he just liked to rub in at every available opportunity. "What were you doing again? On a date were we?"

Conscious of the fact that they were currently on an alien world, walking through an alien forest, John clenched his teeth, biting back any retort that he would normally have given. He had learnt long ago that it was really not a good idea to piss Rodney McKay off; when odds were you would be running for your life in a few hours. It was easier to protect a scared Rodney, than an angry Rodney. "You know full well that I was in my office, catching up on paperwork."

Rodney laughed out loud at that, "That's right; Johnny's been a bad boy so Elizabeth made you stay behind after class and catch up on your homework."

"You have an office?" Teyla was looking at him quizzically.

"Well apparently, yes. Three years. Three years we've been here. You'd have though that someone would have told me before now that I have an office, and that's where the majority of my paperwork's been going all this time. I was up all night trying to sort it out and I didn't even get half the way through. So, if I fall asleep, you may just have to poke me."

"Ok. I can do that." Ronon sounded a little too excited about that idea.

"Erm, yes well, I'd prefer if Teyla did the actual poking. No offence Ronon, but last time I think you nearly broke a rib." As if on cue, Rodney yawned from behind him. "Oh. How very mature of you Rodney. Rub it in why don't you.

"What?" Rodney was glaring at him now.

"The fake yawn. Very mature."

"That was not a fake yawn, thank you Colonel. I didn't manage to get to bed last night either. There was an emergency in one of the labs again, and I was up all night fixing it. Honestly, I think I work with a complete bunch of idiots."

Now that John really looked at him, Rodney did look tired. He knew Rodney didn't trust his staff, and that he liked to oversee every project on Atlantis, but he would have to put a stop to it. Rodney was going to make himself ill if he carried on the way he was.

John, not looking where he was going, didn't get a chance to reply as he walked straight into the back of Ronon who was staring at something in the woods. After regaining his balance (smoothing down his jacket in an attempt to convey to his team, that yes, he had meant to do that), he turned to Ronon.

"What is it?" he whispered, scanning the tree line at the same time.

"I thought I saw something over there, in that clearing." Never taking his eyes off the spot, or his hands off his blaster, Ronon pointed to a dark clearing 50 feet in front of them. John slowly scanned the same area and could see nothing, but then, he had learnt long ago to trusts Ronon's instincts. Seven years on the run had meant he had honed them to perfection.

Sliding his hand, slowly, hopefully inconspicuously down towards the trigger of his P90, he raised it towards the clearing. If there was someone (or something) there, he didn't want to spook them into doing anything stupid. Focused straight ahead, he whispered, "Rodney anything on the scanner? Teyla, you sensing anything?"

Really, he knew from experience there was no need to ask these questions. Rodney's eyes would be constantly glued to the life signs detector the minute they stepped through the gate, sweeping the planet for energy signatures and ZPM's, as well as life signs. Teyla's ability to sense the wraith was something that she could not switch off and on, and John knew she would have alerted him immediately if she had sensed wraith on the planet. He just liked to be sure, he was the team leader after all, responsible for bringing his team home safely.

"I am sensing nothing Colonel Sheppard; there are no Wraith here." Teyla whispered back, her eyes also fixed on the clearing, P90 in hand.

"There's nothing on the scanner. Just the four of us." Rodney's over exaggerated whisper made John wince. The physicist really did have no concept of how to be quite in these situations.

They stood for what seemed an eternity: watching, waiting, for someone, something to pounce out of the trees at them. When nothing came, John decided to put Ronon's _sighting_ down to the fact that their senses were always heightened when they were on a mission. They'd run into trouble so many times, both off world, and back on Atlantis, that they expected it, waited for it.

"Ok" John broke the silence that had settled over the group. "I think that we should press on. We could stand here all day waiting for something to come out of that clearing. Odds are something would eventually, but it would probably be the alien equivalent of a bunny rabbit or something."

Ronon glared at that. "Are you saying you think I'm scared of a bunny rabbit, Sheppard?"

John turned around and glared at Rodney, knowing he was about to say something stupid. He had as much tact as an atom bomb. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that were all on edge, we expect someone to want to try to kill us. We're all hypersensitive to everything that's going on around us. We've been standing here for twenty minutes now, if anyone found us, it would look like we were playing a game of musical statues." At both Ronon, and Teyla's puzzled looks, he added, "Never mind. I just think that we should move on, there's obviously nothing here."

"Oh yes, and isn't that what you said last time, when you were captured by the Genii?_ There's nothing here McKay. You panic too much McKay. _Then what happened, ten minutes later we're running for our lives back through the gate. I say we go with Ronon's instincts this time, as yours so frequently lead us into trouble."

Sheppard was stunned. He felt like someone had just slapped him in the face. Rodney was questioning his leadership abilities. Here he was, knowing that he could trust his life to any of his team, but it obviously wasn't extended the same way. Forcing himself to remain professional, he said, "Ok, Ronon. What do you think we should do?"

Teyla looked slightly shocked by John's clear deferral to Ronon; and if Ronon was too, he didn't show it.

"I agree with you. Could have just been a trick of the light, or something. In my experience if something is waiting to kill you, it's usually done it by now."

"Happy now, McKay?" Sheppard turned around to find Rodney engrossed in his scanner once again.

"Yes, yes fine. Whatever you say." He dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

_That_ hurt John more. Rodney had no idea what he had just done, and he really didn't care.

"Okay then, we'll head over to the left, avoiding that clearing, just in case." John started off, P90 still raised, once again through the forest.

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"Colonel!"

"Oh, for crying out loud! What is it this time McKay? We don't have time to stop _again_." John continued to walk without bothering to turn round. He was used to Rodney wanting to whine about something, or another.

"I'm picking up life signs, straight ahead. A lot of life signs." This time Sheppard couldn't ignore the slightly panicked tone in Rodney's voice.

"Okay Rodney. First of all, how many is a lot, and secondly, are they human."

"Oh yes, because there's a magic little button I can press that tells me yes, that dot there," he pointed to one of the numerous dots now occupying his screen, "is the alien equivalent of a squirrel, and that one there, that one's a human, named Sarah, oh yes and that one…"

"Okay, I think I get it. You don't know if they're human or not. Why couldn't you just say that?"

"Oh sorry, I didn't realize I had to spell everything out for you. No, I am not in the possession of the Marauders Map, and no, I can't tell you whether we are currently approaching a group of people or a pack of hungry animals, ready to eat us."

"Marauders Map?" Sheppard quirked an eyebrow, sparing Rodney a questioning look.

"The Marauders Map. As in Harry Potter." Ronon stated matter of factly, as if surely John should know this.

"Yes. The map that can tell you where each individual is, whenever you wish to know." This time Teyla was looking at him as though he were stupid.

"Okay. Well. Okay." And John didn't quite know what to say when faced with the knowledge he was the only one of his team (consisting of an Astrophysicist, who barely had time to breath, let alone spare time to read, and two aliens, who he was only ten minutes ago arguing with over the difference between a movie, and reality) who hadn't read Harry Potter. There was something very wrong with this picture, and, oh right, whole bunch of life signs that he needed to be dealing with. "So we have somewhat long-windedly discovered that we don't know whether the life signs are human or not. Are they moving?" He looked at Rodney expectantly.

"Oh, right, sorry. Now you need me again." Catching the way that Sheppard was glaring at him, with his I'm-really-not-in-the-mood face, Rodney looked back down at his scanner before replying. "Well, yes, they are moving, but they seem to be moving within the group. They obviously don't know we're here."

"Perhaps it is a settlement of some kind." You could always rely on Teyla to come up with the most logical answer to a situation.

"Teyla's right. Just because we run into hostiles on most of our missions doesn't mean it's going to be the case all the time. I think we should go check it out." John turned to face the rest of his team. Although he was officially team leader, they worked on a system of mutual consensus. Hearing no dissenters, he turned to face back towards the direction of the life signs. "Okay then, let's go."

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As they approached what clearly was a settlement, John made a few quick observations. These people were clearly not technologically advanced, in fact as they entered the 'village' they seemed to be at about the same level, technologically, as the Athosian's had been when the Atlantean's first met them. He also noted that these people seemed to be nomadic. He could discern no evidence of any permanent structures; instead, all he could see were tents.

As they got closer to the settlement, people stopped what they were doing, and looked up at them.The Pots on the fire were momentarily forgotten by the women tending them, and all thoughts of the wood chopping were abandoned by the men as their eyes turned upon the strangers entering the village.

Thankfully, John wasn't sensing any hostility from these people. He always thought he was a pretty good judge of character, hence the fact he had asked Ronon to be the fourth member of his team when no one else had trusted the Runner. Although, he had to admit he wasn't always right about his initial perceptions of certain people. The Genii, to name but one. He had a good feeling about these people, although he could just imagine what Rodney would think if he could hear his thoughts. _Honestly, Colonel, how can these people be of any help to us? I mean look at them, they look like they're living in the Stone Age._ That had been his initial reaction to Teyla and her people when they first met, and look how that had turned out. There was a reason Rodney was a scientist, and it meant that he didn't have to deal with people too often, except for his poor lab teams.

John held up his hand, signalling for them to stop, as they came to what appeared to be the centre of the 'village.' Locking eyes with the nearest, least scared looking native that he could find he said, "Hi. My name is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, and this is my team." He pointed towards Rodney, "This is Dr Rodn…" He didn't get any farther as the young man he had been talking too ran off, and disappeared into a nearby tent.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Oh, well done Colonel. Again your communicative skills astound me."

John glared at him, and was about to retort when he felt a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Colonel. Dr. McKay. Please. These people are clearly scared enough already and we do not wish to scare them further with your…bickering." Teyla said the word as though she wasn't sure of it. It was obviously one of those words she had picked up from her time around the Atlantean's. "Perhaps they would be more receptive to our presence if we were to lower our weapons." She glanced from Sheppard and McKay, to Ronon, who was looking rather petulant at the though of being told what to do.

John sighed. "You're right Teyla, as always. Rodney, Ronon, lower your guns. We have to show them we're not here to hurt them." He usually deferred to Teyla when it came to matters of first contact. She had been the leader of her people for several years before becoming a member of his team, and, therefore, had much more experience in first contact situations.

They stood silently, waiting, for what or who they weren't sure. From here, their missions usually went one of two ways. They would be hounded from the village/settlement/town, by the inhabitants, who would be brandishing guns/pitchforks/lasers, and would have to run for their lives back to the Stargate. Alternatively, if they were lucky (which wasn't all that often), they would be greeted by the leader of the settlement, they would sit and have tea/food, and the day would end well with them having made a new friend/trading partner.

Fortunately, for John and his team it seemed that today was their lucky day. The man that John had been talking to emerged a few minutes later from the tent he had disappeared into to, followed by a much older man. The man approached slowly, not through caution, but from the fact that John doubted he could move much faster even if he had wanted too. He was wearing dark brown, shabby clothes that hung too loosely around his thin, frail frame. His white hair hung shoulder length, where it met his long white beard.

Stopping in front of John, he looked him up and down, before moving his eyes over to Teyla, and then Rodney and Ronon consecutively. John felt slightly nervous around this guy, and couldn't shake the feeling he was being eyed up like a piece of meat.

Deciding he might have better luck introducing himself to _this_ man, John tried again. Extending his hand towards the man, he began, "Hi, I'm Colonel John Sheppard," again indicating McKay, "this is Dr Rodney McKay, Specialist Ronon Dex, and Teyla Emmagen." The old man simply stood staring at John's outstretched hand. Realizing what he was doing he withdrew it. He frequently forgot that the people of the Pegasus Galaxy didn't greet each other in quite the same way as the people of Earth. The Athosian's did the whole head touching thing, whereas Ronon's, well John didn't know how Ronon's people greeted each other. He had only ever met one Satedan, and their first contact had been less than friendly.

Reaching forward, the man grabbed both of John's hands in his own and closed his eyes. The seconds ticked by. John didn't want to say anything to offend these people, but he was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable. After about thirty seconds of 'hand holding' the man let go, and moved on to Rodney, who looked like he was about to make some kind of a protest before he was silenced by a glare from both John and Teyla. He repeated the process for Teyla, before making his way over to Ronon. The runner, like Rodney, looked less than comfortable with the contact, but stood still long enough for the old man to do whatever it was he was doing.

Obviously satisfied with the greeting he turned to Teyla, "My name is Orbis, and you are welcome here. I sense you have the gift also."

"Gift?" Teyla looked at him questioningly.

"Yes. You are able to sense the Wraith, are you not?" Orbis looked at her, as though daring her to prove him wrong.

"Yes. She can. But if you don't mind me asking; how did you know that?" John was trying to be as polite as possible, but the fact he knew about Teyla just from holding her hand freaked him out a little.

"Oh. I know many things." Orbis began, a little too smugly for John's liking. "I also know you are of the Ancestors, Colonel, and your companion, Dr. McKay, has the ancestral code as well, although it is not quite the same as yours. It is not as pure as yours."

Ok, so now he was officially freaked out, and from the look on Rodney's face it hadn't done much for him either.

"You are correct about my companions and I, and please do not think that I am being rude, but how do you know such things about us, when we have only just met." You could always rely on Teyla, ever the diplomat. She had saved them from many tight spots before. Whereas Ronon was more of a shoot first, ask questions later kind of guy, Teyla was the perfect opposite, she was all for the diplomatic approach first, and then if all else failed, she could pack one hell of a punch.

Orbis laughed, and for the first time John could see he was missing more than a few teeth. "As I have already said, I know many things. I am a Seer. That's why I took your hands when you first arrived. I like to know whom I am dealing with when strangers enter my village. I hope you do not mind, I did not mean to cause any offence, it is just the way we do things around here."

"Actually…" John could see that Rodney was going to go into a long-winded diatribe, and could only imagine that it would include such things as, it was an invasion of privacy, the fact that most of the things contained in his brain were classified, and that it wasn't just anyone's for the taking. That's when John realized he had been spending way to much time around Rodney.

"No, of course we don't mind." He could just catch the glare that both Rodney and Ronon were shooting him, as Ronon's hand reached down for his blaster. Ok, so maybe they weren't ok with this guy reading their minds, but really, did they have a choice. It wasn't like they had an abundance of people lined up to be there friends. They had learnt, since arriving in the Pegasus galaxy, they had to take each and every opportunity of friendship afforded to them.

Orbis clearly hadn't seen (or had chosen to ignore) the looks as he continued, "Oh, well good. Good. In that case, we were just about to sit down for evening meal. Would you care to join us?"

At that, both Rodney and Ronon's faces brightened considerably. John didn't think he'd ever seen anyone eat quite as much as Ronon, although Rodney did come in a close second. The two seemed to be constantly thinking about their stomachs. Whenever food was mentioned, they both had one-track minds. John was conscious of the time, but didn't even want to think about the hellish journey they would have on the way back to the gate if he refused Orbis' offer.

"That would be lovely. Thank you."

So if Orbis seemed a little too happy that they would be staying, that was just John's sense of paranoia setting in again. No one else seemed to have noticed, or looked overly concerned, so John chose to ignore it, promising himself that he would remain vigilant throughout the meal.

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John had been overwhelmed by the kindness of the Ranalians. They clearly didn't have much and yet they were willing to share what they did have with him and his team. Rodney however had been less than impressed.

"Huh. They call this food," he sneered as he dribbled the thin soup from his spoon back into his bowl.

"Rodney." John had to restrain himself from snapping at the physicist. "Just eat your soup and stop complaining, would you?"

"Soup? Is that what you call it? I've had better food back on Atlantis, and that's saying something." Rodney felt a swift blow to his shin. "OW!"

John plastered a fake grin on his face, and smiled back at the questioning looks he and McKay were receiving.

"You just kicked me." Rodney's face was shocked, and…hurt?

"Yes Rodney. I did. Because I told you to shut up and you didn't. We really can't afford to lose another ally because you can't keep your mouth shut."

"Oh well I'm sorry. If I'm such a liability, why do you keep me on the team?"

"OW!" It was John's turn to get a kick from under the table. He was about to ask McKay what the hell he thought he was doing when he caught the glare Teyla was currently directing his way from across the table. Ronon, for his part, seemed oblivious to the whole debacle and was busily tucking into what looked like a piece of chicken.

She needn't have bothered, though, because seconds later the whole room was silent as Orbis, seated at the head of the table, stood up clearly getting ready to make a speech.

"I would like to welcome our new friends, and I hope we have a long and lucrative friendship." John didn't like the way he smirked when he looked in his direction. Again, there wasn't a lot he could do about it right now without offending their newfound friends. It all just seemed too easy. In his experience, the forming of alliances usually took a lot longer _and_ they were a lot more painful, sometimes literally. John saw Orbis reach for his glass and indicate that everyone else should do the same. He didn't usually drink on duty, but it was only a sip, and the Ranalians would be offended if he didn't participate in the toast.

He regretted his actions almost instantly when he felt a warm lethargy wash over him. As his eyesight began to blur he could just make out the shapes of Ronon and Teyla sliding sideways. As he drifted towards unconsciousness, his last thought was next time; he would go with his instincts.

A/N: If you liked it, please let me know. If you didn't like it, please let me know. I love hearing what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Wow. You guys are great. I was slightly overwhelmed by the amount of reviews I got for the 1st chapter, I hope the second lives up to your expectations. Thanks to ForkofDoom for betaing this for me, although all remaining mistakes are my own.

Chapter 2

Ronon was jolted awake by the feel of something tugging at his boot. Opening his eyes he realised that wherever he was it was pitch black, and he could barely see two feet in front of him. The one thing he could say with some certainty was that he was outside. He could feel the dampness of the night air all around him; smell the sweet scent of the trees. Sitting up and reaching down, he realised that the thing tugging at his foot was some sort of small, furry creature. It looked a little like the Earth equivalent of a squirrel, he'd seen it in one of Teyla's encyclo-something's, with all kinds of Earth animals in it. Shaking his foot hard enough to get the creatures attention, it briefly stopped chewing on his boot lace, before looking up at him. Growling at it had the desired effect, as it scampered away.

As Ronon stood, he reached down for his blaster. He always liked to have it ready in hand in these kinds of situations. He was a little disconcerted, if not surprised to find his thigh holster empty. Squinting into the darkness and finding nothing, it was at times like these that he regretted not listening to Sheppard when he had suggested that he carry a pack like the rest of the team. He had always maintained that he had managed to survive for seven years on the run without any of that stuff, and he didn't need it now. Although his life certainly would have been made a lot easier right now if he had a torch.

He was just debating whether or not he should call out to see if any of the team were in the nearby vicinity, when he heard it. A distinctly female groan. Deciding that the only real hope of finding whoever else was out here with him, was to take his chance and call out, he shouted into the darkness.

"McKay? Teyla?" The silence was palpable as he waited for a reply. He hoped that it was one of his team, and not one of the Ranalians, because he wasn't sure that he would be able to restrain himself if he were to see one of them out here, alone.

"Ronon?" It was definitely Teyla's voice that sounded back at him. She, like he had been when he had first come too from whatever drug they had slipped into his drink, sounded confused, and not scared, because Teyla didn't get scared, apprehensive.

"Teyla. Where are you.? Keep talking, and I'll find you." He may not be able to see where she was, but he had a pretty good ear. He had to develop one, running from the Wraith had been a full time job, and he had to constantly be aware of his surroundings. Needed to know which direction a wraith would be approaching from, and how far away they were.

"Ronon. What happened. I am no longer carrying my weapon, or my pack. Where are Colonel Sheppard, and Dr. McKay?"

"I don't know, but keep talking. We can talk properly when I find you."

"You are getting closer Ronon, keep coming the way you are. The last thing that I remember, we were at dinner with the Ranalians and then Orbis made a toast. We all drank so as not to offend him. I remember, I think, seeing Dr. McKay, and Colonel Sheppard slipping sideways, as though they had been drugged."

"Yeah." Teyla whirled around as the deep rumbling voice appeared from behind her.

"Ronon, please. A little warning would be nice next time. Did you find Colonel Sheppard, or Dr. McKay as you were looking for me?"

"No, but then I can hardly see you, and I'm standing right next to you. They would have called out by now if they were here with us."

"Perhaps, but then again maybe they are still unconscious."

"I don't like it Teyla, it wouldn't make any sense for them to drug us, take all our stuff, and then simply let us go again. I bet they've still got McKay and Sheppard somewhere. I'm going back to that village to find them."

"Ronon. No" Teyla placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "We should wait here, at least until first light. That way we can be sure that they are not simply still unconscious. Then, if they truly are not with us then we must return to Atlantis. If the Ranalians have Colonel Sheppard, and Dr. McKay then they will not simply just hand them over to us. We are only two people, unarmed. We would be risking their lives and ours if we were not to return to Atlantis."

"I can't just sit around and wait. Besides we could take them easily. I didn't see anything that looked like any kind of weapon."

"Perhaps not, but then we can not be certain. They is obviously more to them than first appeared."

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"Ow ow ow ow!" Rodney's back protested as he manoeuvred himself from his position lying on the floor, to leaning against the wall. It was just as hard, just as cold, but at least this way he was facing the door, and would be ready for anyone should they enter his cell. Looking around he guessed that he was no longer on Ranalia, or they, like the Genii, also had their own secret underground bunker. The room he was currently residing in bore no resemblance to the primitive architecture of tents that they had seen in the village. Wherever he was, this was a stone structure, four walls, no windows. Only one exit, barred by a large metal door.

His first thoughts were for his team. He was clearly alone in this cell, but were they in cells of their own, right now wondering about him in the same way? Or had they managed to escape, hopefully get back to Atlantis for help. At this point he wasn't too worried, heck he'd been in similar situations to this one more times that he could remember, and they always got out of it, somehow. This time would be no different, he hoped.

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John didn't know how long he'd been awake, how long he'd been pacing his tiny cell, but he couldn't sit still. Thoughts of the rest of his team constantly running through his head. He wasn't too worried about Teyla and Ronon, they could take care of themselves, had proven it more times than he would have liked. It was McKay that he worried for the most.

Although Rodney had come a long way from the cowardly scientist who had first stepped through the gate all those years ago, John couldn't help but remember the stories he'd heard on his return to Atlantis from his last experience with the Genii. There was no way of keeping a secret within such a small community as that of Atlantis, and John had only been back a few hours when he'd heard the tale of how McKay had been spooked by a rat, whilst they were raiding one of the possible holding sites of the Genii. That was the problem with Rodney, there were times when he would sound and act like a soldier, as if he'd been trained to do the things he did, and it was often easy for John to forget that he wasn't trained to kill people, or to resist under torture. He was a scientist, and it took times like this to reinforce that for John.

Lost in his thoughts, as he continued the monotony of his pacing John wasn't prepared for the almost blinding light of the outside world, as the cell door was flung open. He willed furiously, if a little desperately, for his eyes to adjust to the light so that he could see who his captors were. He was bothered by the fact that they had seen no structures like the one he was currently occupying, on their way to the gate. Of course, the Ranalians could be like the Genii, with their secret underground bunkers, but then again what were the odds of that happening? No, it was far more likely that they had been transported off world, and were currently being held by God knows who, which made John nervous. Thanks to the 'gate, they could be anywhere in the Pegasus Galaxy, and if they were on a different planet all together, he didn't hold out much hope for a rescue.

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"Unscheduled off world activation."

Elizabeth had been in her office when the call had come through. Sheppard's team was already 12 hours overdue, and she was praying that this would be them. You would have thought that she would have been used to it by now, all the times that they had returned late from a mission, but the truth was that there was no way to get used to it. While it was true that they were more frequently late returning than on time, it usually meant that something bad had happened. They seemed to have an unfortunate habit of running into trouble, even on the most simple of missions.

That was how she now found herself making her way towards her usual spot on the balcony overlooking the gate room. She often felt that she should be down there, waiting for when the team came through, but they had quickly discovered that there was a reason for the balcony that she now occupied. It afforded her a view of the entire gate room, where she could be ready and waiting for her teams to return, but it also left her out of harms way. All too often teams would be coming in hot, weapons fire bouncing off the steps that lead down to the gate room.

"Receiving Teyla's IDC, ma'am." Chucks voice cut through the tense silence that filled the room.

"Lower the shield." Elizabeth watched as the shield shimmered, then disappeared as it was deactivated.

This was the worst part, the waiting. Not knowing what state the team would be returning in, if they would be returning at all. And that was always an all too real possibility, that one or more of them wouldn't be coming back. They'd already lost too many good people, and it always seemed to happen when they least expected it, always on the most simple of missions.

Unconsciously tightening her grip on the railing she couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips as she saw Teyla step through the event horizon, followed by Ronon. Her joy was short lived, as it felt like someone had punched her in the stomach, as the 'gate shut down seconds after Ronon stepped through. As her brain struggled to fully comprehend the implications of what had just happened, her body seemed to be on autopilot as she made her way through the control tower, down to the gate room floor, where Ronon and Teyla were waiting for her. She didn't need her years of training in studying body language and facial expressions, to tell her that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear. She had only seen the expression currently on the runners face once before, and that had been reserved for Kolya. Teyla, usually the diplomatic one of the pair, bore a similar expression.

"Ronon? Teyla?" There was no need to voice the question.

"We need Lorne, and a bunch of marines. We're going back to the planet." Ronon glared as though daring her to say anything different.

"Okay. Slow down." Maybe she had been wrong about the need to ask the question. "Teyla. What happened? Where are Colonel Sheppard, and Dr McKay?"

"I am sorry Dr Weir, but we do not know. We were drugged, and when we woke up, Colonel Sheppard, and Dr McKay were not with us."

"Drugged? Why? By who?" How was it that the team always seemed to find trouble wherever they went?

"They were called the Ranalians. Their leader, Orbis, claimed to be a Seer. He seemed to know a lot about us, and Colonel Sheppard felt that it would be rude of us to turn down his invitation of having dinner with them. The wine was drugged. When Ronon and I woke, we were alone in the forest. We waited until daybreak to see if the Colonel and Dr McKay would show up, when they did not I convinced Ronon that it would be best for us to return to Atlantis, so that we may return to Branalia with a full team, to rescue them."

"What would this Orbis want with Colonel Sheppard, and Dr McKay?"

"I do not know, perhaps it has something to do with them both having the Ancient gene. He seemed to be quite pleased when he discovered they were of the Ancestors."

"Why would that make a difference?"

"Some people of this galaxy can be quite hostile towards the Ancestors. They feel they were cowards, sealing the fate of this galaxy by abandoning it for Earth when it became clear that they could not defeat the wraith."

"We don't have time for this. We've wasted enough time already. They'll be relying on us to rescue them. So get Lorne, and a team of marines, and lets go." Ronon glared at Elizabeth as if daring her to deny his request.

Nodding, Elizabeth replied, "Do it."

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He'd been through this before, knew what questions they would ask. The same ones they always asked. _What's the gate address for Atlantis? What is the sequence of numbers needed to deactivate the shield_. And he would reply with his well practiced answer, _My name is Dr. Rodney McKay, Astrophysicist._ Clichéd yes but never before seen in the Pegasus Galaxy.

Sheppard had even ran a few training sessions for the non-military personnel entitled 'surviving torture 101'. At the time Rodney had thought that it was just another way for Sheppard to mock his poor grace under pressure at the hands of Kolya during the Genii raid on Atlantis. He and his fellow civilians who had the privilege, and Rodney had always viewed it as a privilege, not right, of joining one of the off world teams had soon learnt, with startling clarity, that they would be needing their newly learnt skills.

"What is the gate address for the city of the Ancestors?" And he'd been right of course. He never wrong, except for that one time that they never spoke of.

"My name is Dr. Rodney McKay, Astrophysicist." And he had enough sense of self preservation to not smirk at the look that his answer achieved from his interrogator.

"I will ask you again. What is the gate address for Atlantis."

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"Look, Dave. Can I call you Dave?" Sheppard could have sworn Dave growled at him. "Anyway, Dave. Like I already told you, there is no Atlantis anymore. It was destroyed by the Wraith."

John readied himself for the blow that he knew would be inevitable. A swift blow to the right side of his head, and Dave looked pleased, until,

"Ah, come on. Is that all you've got? I've had better than that off McKay." Seeing Dave's puzzled look, John added. "I'm saying that you punch like a girl." Another blow to the head, and this time John hadn't been expecting it.

"Do not lie to me, Colonel. We know that Atlantis was not destroyed by the wraith. We know that you and people like you, are living in the city. We know what you are Sheppard. Now, what is the code needed to deactivate the shield around the Stargate?"

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"I wont tell you. No matter what you do to me I won't tell you." And Rodney felt a brief flash of fear at the grin that spread across his interrogators face. If John had been here, he probably would have given him some stupid name, just to antagonise him. And Rodney wished that he had the courage to be as cocky as John in these situations.

"You will tell us what we wish to know Dr. McKay, or we will make life very unpleasant for you indeed."

Rodney didn't really want to think about that too much. He was still focused on the hope that someone from Atlantis would be coming to rescue them. John had said often enough, that they never leave people behind, Rodney was hoping that this time would be no exception.

"Now. Lets try this again shall we. What is the code to deactivate the shield around your Stargate?"

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"You know what. How about you answer a couple of questions for me, and then maybe I'll think about answering some questions for you. First of all I want to know that the rest of my team are ok. I want to see them."

Sheppard watched as Dave seemed to contemplate the question. "They are unharmed. But you may not see them. They are not here. They were returned to the woods after we took you."

Well that made him feel a whole lot better, there was no way that he could tell if Dave was lying to him or not, he'd just have to hope that what he was saying was true.

"Ok. Then what makes you think that Atlantis wasn't destroyed by the Wraith?"

"Ah, ah." Dave shook his head. "I answered a question for you, now it's your turn to answer one of my questions. What is the gate address for Atlantis?"

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"Ok, ok. I'll tell you. I'll tell you what you want to know. If you promise to release me once you have the address and the code."

Rodney grimaced at the smile that curved across his torturers lips. He couldn't believe that he was going to do this. But he thought that his nose had broken from that last punch, and he really couldn't take much more of this.

"Ok. You have my word."

That didn't really mean much, but he'd take his chances. "Ok, do you have some paper?"

At the puzzled expression, he rolled his eyes, before miming writing. "You know. Something to write on." When his expression didn't change, Rodney threw his hands up in disgust. "Is everyone in this galaxy a bunch of complete morons? Hand me my bag." Clicking his fingers, he snapped, "Come on, I don't have all day."

After being handed his bag he withdrew a piece of paper and a pen, primitive, he knew, but he liked to be prepared in case they got stuck on another planet like the one with all the kids. Just the memory of it made him shudder.

"Hurry up." And he looked up to find his captor leaning over him.

"Yes, well. You're blocking all the light. Move." Rodney glared until he took a step back. "Here, this is the address for Atlantis" He drew a row of seven symbols, before adding a row of numbers. "And this, is the code to deactivate the shield.

"Thank you, Dr. McKay" And he barely had time to register the fist, before it connected with the side of his head.

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Elizabeth had been quietly impressed by the speed with which Ronon, and Teyla had been able put together a rescue team. They now stood below her in the gate room, in full mission gear, and she couldn't help but notice how strange Ronon looked carrying a P90 instead of his blaster, accompanied by Major Lorne, and six marines who had all been keen to participate in the rescue mission.

She looked down from her position over looking the gate room to see Major Lorne giving her the thumbs up, indicating that they were ready to go. She turned to Chuck, to instruct him to begin the dialling sequence, when the gate began to spin. Frantically pressing buttons on his laptop, Chuck turned to her,

"Unscheduled off world activation."

Maybe there wouldn't be a need for a rescue mission after all. The only people that were currently off world were John and Rodney, and she hoped that they had somehow managed to make their own way back.

Looking down over the balcony she saw that the team were already moving away from the gate, taking up defensive positions, just in case. The gate room fell silent as the gate whooshed to life, all eyes focused on the event horizon, except Chucks which were focused on the screen of his laptop. Waiting for an IDC transmission.

"Ma'am" Elizabeth turned to see that he was frowning. "I'm receiving an IDC."

When the shield remained active Elizabeth turned to him. "Lower the shield."

"I don't think we want to do that ma'am. It's the code that Dr. McKay set up, for when a team has been compromised."

Her focus was drawn back to the Stargate as there were ten distinctive thuds against the shield. Signalling ten lives that had just been extinguished, granted those ten people would probably have tried to kill them all, like the Genii had done, but she still found it difficult to comprehend the fact that ten people had just died within seconds.

"Dr. Weir. We have to go now. They're obviously in trouble. Although I think it would be wise to take a cloaked puddle jumper, just in case there are most hostiles around the gate when we exit the other side." Major Lorne was looking frantic.

Elizabeth nodded, before replying "Go." _Bring them home._

A/N: What did you think? Please review, and let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Wow. Am once again slightly overwhelmed by the amount of reviews so far, thanks for those, and please keep them coming. If anyone's wondering when the story is actually going to fit the summary it coming, really.

"You lied to me."

Rodney was trying his hardest not to laugh at the almost violet shade his interrogator had turned. He was pissed, really pissed, and Rodney knew that he wasn't going to like what was to come, but at least now Atlantis knew that they were alive, but in trouble.

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about." And this time Rodney couldn't hide the smirk as, and he really hadn't thought that it would have been possible, but his interrogator turned an even deeper shade of purple.

"Ten of my men died, because of you. Now, tell me the real code to lower the shield, or we'll be making your stay with us a lot less comfortable.

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"Enough messing around Colonel. Tell us the code to lower the shield around the Stargate, or we will be forced to use harsher measures. You will tell us, one way or the other Colonel. It is simply up to you whether we do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"Ah you know. I'd hate for this to end so quickly, I'm having too much fun. So why don't we try for the hard way."

"Very well." Dave turned to someone behind him, and nodded.

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Rodney shrank back in his chair as the door to the room opened, and two thick set, burly looking guards stepped in. Suddenly Rodney was regretting ever mentioning the idea of the fake IDC to Elizabeth all those months ago. Damn his brain, and he never thought he'd be thinking that, although sometimes being a genius was more trouble than it was worth.

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John struggled to free himself from the grasp of the two new guards, but to no avail. No matter how hard he struggled, their grips just tightened. John looked up to find Dave smirking at him,

"Still having fun Colonel."

"Actually, I haven't had this much fun for a long time. Please, carry on."

Turning to the two guards, who were both restraining John with seemingly no effort on their part, Dave added, "Hold him still. We wouldn't want to leave him with brain damage."

What the hell. Brain damage? And John's heartbeat crept up a few notches as Dave pulled some kind of device from his pocket. John continued to struggle against his captors as Dave made his way slowly around to the back of the chair, and John had no choice. As he felt cold metal touch the back of his neck, he stopped struggling. Whatever they were about to do was inevitable, there was nothing he could do about it, and he'd rather not come out of this experience with brain damage. Because Atlantis would be coming to rescue him, and until they did it was his job to stay alive, as unharmed as possible.

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Rodney winced as he felt a sharp, stinging pain in the back of his neck. He'd caught a brief glimpse of the device that was now implanted in his neck, it had glowed as his interrogator had got nearer to him, which meant that it was somehow ATA activated, he wondered briefly if John was somewhere going through the same thing.

Although it was obviously ATA activated, it hadn't looked ancient in design. And Rodney doubted, after all that they knew about the Ancients, that they would have created some kind of, what, torture device. Whatever it was, it was now embedded into his neck, and he could only wonder as to its purpose.

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They arrived at the village without incident and Ronon found it strange that they had seen no rogue life signs outside of the village since their arrival.

Gently guiding the jumper to a stop just outside of the village Major Lorne turned to his passengers, paying particular attention to Ronon, when he said,

"Okay, I know that we're all worried about the Colonel and Dr. McKay, but we have to be careful about this. We're not going to get anywhere by storming in, guns blazing. We'll try talking things through with these people, before pursuing any other route. Is that clear?"

There was a chorus of "Yes sir's" from the marines, a "that is perfectly clear, Major" from Teyla, and a grunt from Ronon. Lorne wasn't sure whether that qualified as a confirmation, but he figured that it was probably the best response he would be getting from the runner.

Before he had even finished fully lowering the back hatch of the jumper Ronon was out of his seat, and making his way down the path towards the village. It was all they could do to keep up with him.

Lorne realised that he could do nothing but follow the runner, as he made his way through the village, never stopping to acknowledge the villager that he carelessly tossed aside as he stormed his way into one of the tents.

Turning towards the marines, he said, "Wait here." Before following Teyla into the tent after Ronon.

"Tell me where they are." Lorne was horrified to find that Ronon had an old man, he assumed Orbis, by the throat.

"Ronon, we agreed that we would use violence as a last resort."

Never taking his eyes of Orbis, Ronon replied calmly, "No, you decided that you wouldn't use violence. I never agreed to anything. Besides, violence is the only thing people like this weasel understand." Orbis gasped for air as Ronon tightened his hold around his throat.

"Ronon. Please." This time he turned to look at Teyla, who had placed a hand on his shoulder. "He may be the only one who can tell us where the Colonel and Dr. McKay are. If you kill him then we may never find them. Please Ronon, let him go."

Lorne was quietly impressed at the way Teyla was handling the situation, he was definitely glad that he had brought the Athosian along. As Ronon released Orbis, he slid to the ground, holding his throat, whilst gasping for air.

Between breaths he managed to ground out an almost inaudible, "Thank you."

Ronon stood glaring, and Lorne could feel the tension radiating of the runner, he could tell it was taking all of the runners inner strength not to kill Orbis, but he had obviously seen the logic in Teyla's words.

Teyla stepped closer towards the fallen man, before kneeling down before him. "Do not thank me. The only reason that I stopped him was because we need you. You know where our friends are. Now, tell us where they are, or we will search your village tent by tent. And believe me when I say we will not be careful about it." With that, she stood up, and made her way outside.

To say that Lorne was surprised by this side of Teyla would be an understatement. Sure he knew that she could kick arse if she needed too, she'd kicked his more than a few times, during his training with the sticks. And of course he had heard stories from the team, but he would never have believed that Teyla would be capable of being so cold, menacing. Even Ronon seemed more than a little surprised.

Stepping forward towards Orbis, pointedly running his finger along the trigger of his P90, he asked, "So, are you going to tell me where our people are, or should I set these two loose on your village. The choice is yours."

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John was sat in his cell, running his fingers along the device that Dave had implanted into the back of his neck. He still had no idea as to the purpose of the device, but it had scared him when Dave had talked about the possibility of brain damage. As he traced the smooth, circular outline of the implant, he considered the possibilities of what would happen if he were to simply remove the device. It wasn't until he had a mental image of McKay rolling his eyes at him, before putting on his best I'm-talking-to-a-moron-face, saying _Brain + devicebad, brain - deviceworse, _that he realised just what a stupid idea it was. If implanting the device could cause brain damage, then surely removing it could be just as damaging. Besides, he still had no idea as to its purpose, it didn't seem to be having any ill effects so far, although he doubted that it would last.

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Ronon and Teyla were waiting for him when he stepped out of the tent.

"Okay. Well according to Orbis, McKay and Sheppard were transported off world to a planet called Tenaria. The Ranalians were offered sanctuary from the Wraith in Atlantis, once the Tenarians took it from us. Thankfully, their plan backfired on them

"So, the reason that they only took Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard, was…"

"Because they have the ATA gene, yes. Apparently, these people, the Tenarians knew all about us. According to Orbis, there have been a few rumours about us, and the survival of Atlantis after the Wraith attack. They obviously didn't do their homework too well though, or they would have known that we don't give up easily."

Lorne couldn't help but notice that Ronon was glancing around impatiently.

"Look, I really don't care why these guys took McKay and Sheppard, all I care about is the fact that they did. I say we can talk about this later, right now McKay and Sheppard are in trouble." And without waiting for a reply Ronon was striding off back towards the jumper.

Teyla turned to Lorne, quirked one eyebrow, as if daring the Major to disagree, before she too followed after Ronon.

Lorne, quickly realising that he was losing control of the situation, turned to the marines, and shouted, "You heard them. Our people are in trouble, now move it." He couldn't help feel a little satisfaction at the way the marines snapped to attention, before running off to follow Teyla and Ronon. He briefly wondered how his CO did it. How was it that he was able to command respect, and obedience from three very opinionated people, all with a very strong sense of free will. On paper, the dynamics of the team just shouldn't work, but in reality, he was quickly coming to realise that Sheppard had the best team in two galaxies.

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Rodney didn't know how long it had been since the device had been implanted, but it's lack of physical effects on his body was beginning to make him nervous. What if it was doing something to his brain? It was certainly a plausible explanation for it. They needed information, said information was locked away in his brain. Maybe this was some clever way of getting him to tell them everything that they wanted to know.

Rodney was stopped from working himself into a full blown panic by the sound of rapid gunfire coming from the down the hallway. His heart leapt as the sound got closer, and he realised that it was his fellow Atlanteans come to rescue him. He was just thinking that maybe he should alert someone to the fact, that yes, he was in here, when the door burst open.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light, and for a moment he thought that it was one of his captors come to take him away again before he could be rescued. But as he squinted into the bright light from the open doorway, he realised that the silhouetted figure standing before him was Ronon, and he didn't think he'd ever been more happy to see the man in his life. And, huh, he didn't look any worse for the wear, kind of like he hadn't been held a prisoner at all. And then there was Teyla rushing towards him, arms wrapping around him in a tight embrace, and Rodney wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, he'd never been good with physical contact. As Teyla broke away, he took in her appearance, and noticed that she too looked, normal. Well normal for someone who'd just had to fight there way through a bunch of armed guards.

"Rodney?" Teyla was getting more than a little worried by McKay's continued silence, considering that he was probably the most vocal man that she had ever met.

"Huh. What. Sorry, it's just about time. I thought you'd never get here. I mean, come on. I they sent that fake IDC through hours ago, what took you so long. My brain could be rotting away as we speak, and…What? What are you smiling at?"

Ronon quickly tried hide the smile that curved across his lips, to no avail "Nothing. It's just good to have you back McKay."

"Yes, well." Rodney wasn't quite sure that he believed Ronon could ever be that happy to see him, but he let it go. "Where's your space gun?"

"Space gun?" Ronon quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh no, it really is making me stupid. Hurry up, we need to get back to Atlantis." Seeing that no one was moving, he added, "Now."

"Dr. McKay, we have yet to find Colonel Sheppard. Do you know where he is?"

Sheppard? How could Rodney be so selfish as to not notice that they were actually short a rather important member of the team. "Sheppard? No? I don't know. I haven't seen him. Do you think he's alright?"

Teyla put a reassuring hand on Rodney's arm, "I am sure that Colonel Sheppard has been able to take care of himself Rodney. We just need to find him so that we may get out of here."

"Yes. I'm sure you're right. I mean, I'm okay. Relatively. I think. So it would stand to reason that Sheppard would be okay too. Right."

"I'm sure Shep's fine Doc." Rodney jumped as Lorne appeared in the doorway. "Now as much as I'd love to stand around chatting, we really need to find the Colonel, and get out of here, before we have a complete battalion of guards bearing down on our position."

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It didn't take them long to find John, he was being held in a cell similar to Rodney's just off of the next corridor.

"Hey Rodney." John couldn't help but notice the deep purple bruise spreading across Rodney's right eye. "You okay?" He was expecting a long winded explanation of all the reasons why Rodney wasn't okay, but all he got was,

"Okay. Yeah. You."

And John had almost forgotten that he must look like hell too.

"Yeah." His hand went instinctively to his neck, and he didn't like the way Rodney's eyes were showing…recognition. "Did they?"

"Yeah" Rodney's hand reached for his own neck where the implant was still firmly embedded in his skin.

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Elizabeth released the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding as the slightly bedraggled, but ultimately conscious, and mobile forms of John Sheppard, and Rodney McKay emerged through the open wormhole, followed swiftly by the rescue team.

Quickly making her way down towards the gate room floor, she was better able to assess their conditions. Apart from a few obvious bruises, Rodney to his right eye, and John had a couple to both sides of his face, they seemed relatively unscathed by their ordeal.

"It's good to have you back." Ever the professional. All she really wanted to do was pull them both into a tight embrace, no matter how many times they went through this there was just no getting used to it, and she was extremely relieved, if a little surprised to find them relatively unharmed.

"It's good to be back." John smiled, but she noticed that it didn't quite reach his eyes, something wasn't right.

"Yes, yes. It's great to be back, but really we need to get to the infirmary, because my brain could be disintegrating as we speak."

John rolled his eyes, before replying, "Oh come on McKay, what would be the point in that. They wanted information, and it kind of defeats the object if your subject is too brain damaged to tell you what you want to know."

"Oh come on, please. You're just not worried because you have far less to lose than I do. You can still do your flyboy, macho, save the day thing without a brain, I need mine. Besides, you have no idea what it's for."

"What what's for?" Elizabeth found herself more than a little confused, and from the looks on the faces of the rest of the team, they too had no idea what they were talking about.

"Perhaps whatever McKay's talking about has already had an effect." Ronon looked at Weir, whilst shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh yes. Very helpful. Thank you Conan. Look we'll explain when we get to the infirmary, we've wasted enough time already." With that Rodney was off, striding down the corridor, and John couldn't think of a time when he's seen Rodney move that fast, except maybe that time when he'd been told that the coffee was running out. Shrugging his shoulders, in a gesture of defeat, John walked off after Rodney. Leaving behind a very confused group of people.

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Rodney walked into the infirmary, and finding it devoid of a certain doctor, shouted out, clearly without thinking of the two patients that were currently laying asleep in infirmary beds.

"Carson! Carson! Where are you?"

Rodney almost snorted with laughter as Carson's head appeared from around the doorframe of the storage closet. The expression on his face was a cross between rabbit caught in the headlights, and pure disbelief.

"Rodney? Colonel Sheppard? I wasn't aware you were back."

"Well, you know we just home, and thought we'd pop in for a chat. See how things are. Oh yeah, and to tell you that Rodney thinks we have brain damage."

"What?" From the way that John had made it an offhand comment Carson assumed that it must just be another case of Rodney over reacting to a situation, he had a rather unfortunate habit of always thinking of the worse case scenario for any given situation. Carson smiled before turning his attention to Rodney. "Oh, aye. And what would make you think that Rodney?"

"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps it could have something to do with the alien device which is currently stuck to the back neck. Colonel no-brains over here seems to think it's not a big deal."

"What the bloody hell. Why didn't you say something sooner?" Carson was quickly stepping into doctor mode, grabbing his stethoscope from around his neck he began to guide them both over to two of the unoccupied gurneys. "Sit down. Let me take a look at you."

John smirked, not falling for Carson obvious attempt at diversion, turning around, he made his way over the storage closet that he had been in when they had first arrived. Ignoring the look of confusion on Rodney's face, for a genius he could be pretty dense, and the look of pure horror on Carson's, John thought the door open.

"You can come out now Lieutenant."

As John stood in the doorway, Lieutenant Cadman stepped sheepishly out from the within the closet. Not looking him in the eyes, she said, "Good to see you back sir." Before standing at attention, and saluting him. All the while her eyes were focused on the wall behind him.

"Yes. Well. Thank you. You can leave now Lieutenant." And if John was embarrassed about finding his Doctor, and one of his marines in a storage closet, then he could only image how Carson and Cadman were feeling right now.

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." Keeping her eyes focused on the floor, she made her way across the infirmary. "Dr McKay. Hi, and er, Carson, thanks for helping me with that, er, thing. I just I'll see you later."

"Aye, love."

The look on Rodney's face had been priceless, and John found himself wishing that he's brought a camera along. "We're you just, with, and no wait, I don't want to know what you two were up to. But it's nice to know that you were worried about us."

"Yes, well. Can we just forget about my personal life, and focus a bit more on what's going on with you two."

"Yes. Please. Let's, because you know if I lose any IQ points because you were too busy acting like a randy teenager, then I will… Well I don't know what I'll do, but it wont be pleasant."

"You know Rodney, I'd be a bit more careful about what you say if I were you, Carson is the one holding all the big pointy needles."

As if to back up John's state, Carson took the opportunity, whilst they were both distracted, to take a blood sample from John. And if he was a little bit rougher than was necessary, then John didn't say anything. He figured that it probably wasn't a good idea to upset Carson anymore then he already had.

A/N: If anyone's wondering when the story is actually going to fit the summary it coming, really. The reason for the devices will all be made clear in the next chapter, and if anyone's wondering when the story is actually going to fit the summary it's coming, really.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Hope that you enjoy this one.

"McKay!" Rodney nearly fell off the edge of the gurney as Ronon shouted his name from the doorway to the infirmary.

"What the…Are you trying to give me a heart attack, because you're certainly going about it the right way."

"Nope. Just checking for brain damage. You obviously still know who you are, so it can't be that bad."

Rodney rolled his eyes, not even bothering to dignify Ronon with a response, before turning his attention back to Beckett.

"Right, as I was saying, we're going to need to run some tests. As to yet I have no idea what these devices are for, or what they are doing. I don't even want to think about removing them until I know exactly what we're dealing with."

"Carson, do you think that there's any danger to Atlantis?" John didn't like the way that Elizabeth seemed to be eying him and Rodney, as though she expected them to both turn into raving lunatics, and try killing everyone at any moment. He told himself that he had to think rationally, he probably would have been thinking the same thing had he been in her position. Hell, now that he did think about it, who was to say that they weren't some kind of mind control device.

"Yeah Carson, could we be a danger to Atlantis. I mean we have no idea what these things do, for all we know they could be some kind of mind control device." John wasn't entirely sure that he had been able to keep the panic that he was currently feeling out of his voice. He'd been through a similar situation once before, when his mind had been occupied by Thalan, an alien consciousness with a serious grudge. He remembered all too clearly the feeling of being trapped in his own body, having no control over it. Being forced to watch as Thalan had shot Ronon, he wasn't sure that he could go through that again, in fact he knew he couldn't go through that again. It wasn't until he looked across at Rodney, that he realised the effect that the very idea was having on the physicist.

Rodney had gone pale, too pale. "Oh God, I didn't think this could get any worse. How did I not think of that before. That's it isn't it, we're not going to lose our minds, they're simply going to be taken over by something, and we're going to be forced to destroy Atlantis, or something equally as disturbing."

Carson glared at John, before turning his attention to Rodney. "Now look Rodney, you need to calm down. We have no idea what these devices do, and there is absolutely no point in panicking yourself until we are absolutely sure what we're dealing with" Turning his attention back to John he added, "So I'll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself Colonel."

"What, I was just voicing what everyone else was obviously thinking. Right guys?" He turned to Teyla and Ronon for support.

"Actually Colonel, I was thinking that there could be many possible explanations as to their purpose. As we know so little about them I would not like to speculate." Teyla gave John a small smile in way of an apology.

"Yeah. And I was just thinking that I like McKay's brain damage theory better." Seeing the look of disbelief on John's face, Ronon added. "Sorry, but McKay's theories are usually right."

Desperately trying to dig himself out of the hole that was getting deeper by the minute, John turned his attention to Elizabeth, pinning her with his best wounded puppy dog look.

"Sorry John, but I'm immune to your charms. I think you've used them one too many times. And I don't recall saying anything about mind control. I simply questioned whether the safety of Atlantis would be compromised. For all we know they could be emitting some kind of signal back to the planet where you were being held, or worse, the Wraith."

Turning to McKay, who was sporting an extremely smug grin, John, like a petulant child who had just been suitably chastised, and then told that he had to apologise, ground out, "I'm sorry, okay. I won't mention the idea of mind control again."

"Okay. Well now we've all tossed our theories around about what these things might be, can we please get on to the part where we actually find out what these things are? I'd rather know in advance whether I'm going to have the urge to go on a sudden killing spree."

"Rodney's right." Carson turned to face Teyla, Ronon, and Elizabeth. "I think it would be best if you leave for the time being. I don't see that they're in any immediate danger. I'm just going to be running a whole heap of tests, it's going to be pretty boring." Carson ignored the groan that he heard from behind him. "Although I would like to get Radek down here. I think it would be wise to make sure that they aren't giving off any kind of signal before I run any other tests."

"I agree." Elizabeth nodded, before saying slightly louder, "I guess I'll be seeing you two later. Try not to upset Carson too much while we're gone." That statement earnt her a mischievous waggle of the eyebrows from John, Rodney feigned nonchalance as if to say I have no idea what you're talking about, while Carson simply rolled his eyes at her, they both knew full well that they wouldn't be making it easy for him.

"I will come by later to see how you are doing, of course if that is alright with you Dr. Beckett."

"Aye Teyla love. That should be fine. I'll radio you once we know more."

"Later." Ronon never really was much of a talker.

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John couldn't help but feel sorry for Radek, as for the fifth time since he'd entered the infirmary Rodney proceeded to tell him how he was a complete moron, and that a monkey could do his job better. They both knew that he didn't mean it, Rodney was a hard person to deal with at the best of times, but whenever he was stressed what little social skills he did have always seemed to suffer.

"Look Rodney. Why don't you leave it to me, hmm? You are clearly not thinking properly. I am more than capable of running a diagnostic. Now please. Leave me to my work."

"You need to make sure you…"

"Check for all sub frequencies. Yes, I am aware. Now please. Go and annoy the Colonel, or something."

"Yeah McKay. Leave poor Zelenka alone. He'll probably get it finished a lot quicker if you're not looking over his shoulder all the time. Besides I'm getting bored of playing solitaire, how about a game of Go Fish?"

Rodney snorted. "You can not be serious. Go Fish, what are you like, five? Don't you know any grown up card games?"

John couldn't help but smile, his interruption was having the desired effect. Although Rodney was currently mocking him, he was making his way across the infirmary, leaving Radek to get back to his work.

Hopping up on the bed next to John, Rodney pulled the pack from his hand, and began to shuffle them. "Okay, so how about a game of poker?" Seeing that John was pulling a face, he asked "What?"

"Rodney, do you remember the last time we played poker? I got your entire pudding ration for a month. Lets face it, you're not exactly the best poker player in the world."

"Okay, fine. Have it your way, we'll play your stupid game."

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"Got any fives?"

"Go Fish."

"Oh come on, you are so cheating."

"I am not."

"There is no way that you can win fifteen times in a row without cheating."

John was stopped from replying by the entrance of Radek and Carson.

"Okay, well there is good news, and bad news." Radek looked from Rodney to John.

"Start with the bad news. Then that way at least we have something good to look forward too afterwards." John wasn't sure that he liked the way Carson was currently looking at him.

"Well, bad news is that we are no closer to finding out what the purpose of the devices is."

"Oh, well, I've had worse bad news."

"And the good news?" Rodney snapped a little impatiently. John knew the feeling. They had already been cooped up in the infirmary for hours, and they were no further forward. He knew for a fact that there would be no escaping Beckett's clutches until the devices were removed, and there would be no removal of said devices until they knew what they were for.

"The good news is that they're not emitting any kind of signal."

"Or chemical. The results of your blood work came back, and there are no foreign chemicals in your bloodstream."

"Okay. So now what?" John wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer, but he knew that someone had to ask the question.

"Well, I'd like to run a complete scan on you both, and of course you'll be staying with me overnight. Other than that, at the moment I have no idea. They don't seem to be having any physical effects on you at the moment, but I don't want to take any chances. They obviously have a purpose, we just need to find out what that is."

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Rodney couldn't sleep, as he lay staring at the ceiling of the infirmary he found himself wishing that he had Sheppard's ability to sleep anywhere. He knew without a doubt that the man would be asleep within minutes and he often assumed that John being in the military, had forced him very early on in his career to condition himself to being able to sleep anywhere. He just wished that he could say the same. He could say with some certainty that a stay in the infirmary for him would mean a sleepless night with a bad back in the morning.

Rodney found his attention being pulled towards Sheppard's half of the infirmary as he heard a loud, "Son of a …." before John was sitting bolt upright in bed.

"John?" Getting no response, Rodney got out of bed and made his way, almost silently as he padded barefoot across the infirmary. As he got nearer Rodney could make out the harshness of John's breathing, and the way that his eyes seemed to be unfocused, and he couldn't pretend to miss the way that John's hand was now unconsciously brushing the back of his neck. Making sure to step into his line of sight Rodney touched his arm. "John?"

This time calling his name had the desired effect as John's eyes slowly turned to focus on Rodney. "The er, device thing, it just electrocuted me."

Okay, so he hadn't been expecting that. "What? What are you talking about, electrocuted you. Why would it do that?" If Sheppard was playing games then this wasn't very funny.

"How the hell should I know?" Rodney could tell from the slightly panicked look in John's eyes that he wasn't joking, and for once he found himself wishing that this was just another one of Sheppard's jokes.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Rodney turned around to find a very grumpy looking, slightly crumpled Scottish doctor glaring at him. "Rodney, what are yah doing over here, bothering the Colonel. Can't you leave the poor lad alone for more than half an hour?"

"Me! It was all his fault." Rodney pointed his finger at John, and Carson couldn't help but think that it was more like looking after a pair of five year olds than two fully grown adults.

John looked sheepish before adding, "Sorry Carson. It really was my fault. I think we may have a theory as to what the devices are for."

Carson raised an eyebrow questioningly, before pulling the chair next to Sheppard's bed closer. "Aye, okay then. Care to fill me in."

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"Let me get this straight," Elizabeth folded her hands on the table in front of her, before turning her attention back to John. "You think that these devices were designed to stop you from going to sleep, all because you got an electric shock from it when you were trying to sleep last night. Surely it could just have been a coincidence."

John looked across at Rodney who was sat on the opposite side of the briefing table. "It was no coincidence. We spent half the night experimenting."

"The data's pretty conclusive, every time the Colonel or I tried to go to sleep, we received an electric shock. Thanks to the Colonels insistence that we had to be sure before we came to you, I now have one hell of a headache, as well as having had no sleep last night."

"Working on the assumption that your theory is correct, what's the point? Why would the Tenarians want to stop you from sleeping? It just doesn't make sense."

"Actually, it makes perfect sense. They wanted us to tell them the Gate Address and shield codes for Atlantis. If they'd truly heard about us then they would also have heard that we don't give up easily. That's why they only took Colonel Sheppard and I, they knew that if they couldn't get the codes out of us, then they always had the devices to fall back on."

Seeing Teyla's slightly confused look John added, "The devices are ATA activated, they wouldn't have worked on you and Ronon."

"Oh, I see. I had been wondering why we were left in the forest free to return to Atlantis. It seemed rather foolish to leave us to be able to return here, and warn Dr. Weir as to what had happened."

"They were obviously counting on Alcon not to disclose the address of the planet you were taken to."

"First rule of life: Never trust anyone." John couldn't help but feel sorry for the runner, to have lead such a life that he felt that he couldn't trust anyone. John couldn't imagine it. Granted, he didn't trust just anyone, it took a while for John to be able to give his trust. But he could safely say that he would happily trust his life to any one of the people sitting in front of him, it just hurt that Ronon couldn't say the same.

"Yes. Anyway, back to the point." John couldn't help but notice the way that Rodney had shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the runners statement. "They obviously weren't planning on you finding us so soon. The longer we went without sleep, the more likely we would have been to have given them what they wanted

"Aye. The longer a person goes without sleep, the more their mental defenses are compromised. You would have been a lot more susceptible to suggestion after a few days without sleep."

"Okay" Elizabeth sat forward in her chair, looking at Beckett for the answers. "So we know what they're for, how do we remove them?"

"We don't." Carson ignoring the look of shock on Elizabeth's face continued. "I ran a series of scans last night, and they're attached to the central nervous system, there is no way that I can safely remove them without brain damage or death. You're not going to like this but the only option I can see at this time is to return to Tenaria, they must know a way of removing the devices."

"You're right I don't like it." She glanced over at John, who clearly didn't seem to be as shocked as she was, they had obviously been discussing their options last night. "John, what do you think?"

John looked up from the table, before squaring his shoulders, as if preparing himself to do battle. "No. We're not going back to that planet. I'll not risk anymore lives. We'll just have to figure something else out. I mean it's not as if a few days without sleep is going to kill us." John could have sworn he heard Rodney mumble, _speak for yourself_ but he decided to continue regardless. "We haven't looked at all the possibilities yet, there might be a way to turn them off or something."

"Carson?"

"I don't like it at all, Elizabeth. The longest anyone has ever been able to stay awake for is eleven days, and in that time the body, not to mention the mind, is put under extreme stress when it is deprived of sleep for an extended period of time. So that is the maximum amount of time we have to figure this out."

"Very well. In that case I'm recommending that we hold off on another visit to Tenaria, but keep it as a last resort option. In the mean time, whilst we are trying to figure this out you two," she turned her attention to John and Rodney, "are off duty. And I want you to cooperate fully with Carson. Is that understood?"

"Yes Elizabeth." They replied in unison.

"Good. Well in that case, dismissed." As she watched them all leave, she couldn't help but wonder if John and Rodney were simply attracted to trouble, or if trouble was attracted to them. Either way, they didn't seem to be able to go one week to the next without some sort of disaster befalling them.

A/N: And now the serious whumping begins.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Once again thank you for all the reviews. I continue to be slightly overwhelmed by the response to this. Slightly nervous too to know that some of you reading this have experienced sleep deprivation, I'm trying to make what Rodney and John are experiencing in terms of symptoms as true to reality as possible. I just hope it's working. Anyway, enough from me, on with the story.

Carson seriously. There is nothing physically wrong with me, apart from the obvious fact that I'm tired, but this is nothing. I've been longer than this without sleep more times than I can count. I'm fine, and I have a lot more important things to be doing than sitting here playing Go Fish."

Carson sighed. "Aye I know Rodney, but when you've gone without sleep before it wasn't because there was some alien device attached to your nervous system. We have no idea if there are going to be any other side effects from those things."

"Look Carson. I know you worry, and we appreciate it." Seeing the sceptical look Carson was currently shooting his way, John added. "Honestly. Despite the fact that we may not show it, we really do. But I'm going to go crazy if I don't _do_ something soon. Besides I think things would go a lot faster in the research department if you weren't having to play babysitter as well"

"Hey I resent that." Rodney was sat crossed legged, with his arms folded across his chest. And, was that a pout.

"Oh come on Rodney. Five minutes ago you were about ready to throw a fit because there wasn't any blue jello on your lunch tray." Ignoring the glare that he was receiving from Rodney, John turned his attention back to Carson before turning on his best innocent face "Would it help if we promise to be good, we promise to radio in every six hours just to let you know were still alive, and we promise that if anything else happens well come straight back."

Carson eyed John sceptically. "Aye, it might help your case if I actually believed a word you just said. You're forgetting that I know you too well Colonel. You never tell me when you're injured, and when you're forced in here by your team you downplay your injuries. I don't think I could trust you to tell me if anything else did occur."

Sheppard feigned his best wounded puppy dog look, "Aah doc, I'm hurt." Seeing that his nonchalance to the situation was only serving to anger the Scot John looked to Rodney for help.

"Look Carson. I know that Lieutenant Colonel _I'm fine_ over there isn't exactly a model patient, but you know that you can trust me to tell you if there are anymore side effects to the devices. Right?"

"Aye lad. I suppose I can. You're normally pretty forthcoming about any injuries you sustain."

"Yeah, he's the Pegasus Galaxies biggest hypochondriac."

That earnt John a glare from both Carson and Rodney.

"As I was saying. You can trust me. So can I leave. I promise to follow any rules and regulations that you want, I just really need to get out of here."

"What! That is so not fair. How comes he gets to leave and I don't?"

Carson turned to John, "Because Colonel, unlike you, I can trust Rodney."

Rodney hopped down from his bed and made his way across the infirmary. He got about halfway to the door before stopping and turning around, and John hoped that he'd changed his mind, and was going to persuade Carson to let him leave too. He was wrong. Rodney looked him square in the eyes, before sticking his tongue out at him, turning around, and leaving.

John barely had enough time to shout, "Oh very mature Rodney. Very mature. And don't think I wont forget this."

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"Sheppard? I just saw Rodney on his way down to the labs. What are you still doing here?" The first thing that John noticed as Ronon entered the infirmary was that he was limping, whilst also sporting a rather nasty black eye.

John quirked an eyebrow questioningly as the runner gingerly sat down on the bed next to his. "I could ask you the same thing, but then I think it's pretty obvious. I can see that my men are getting better."

Ronon blushed, actually blushed, before finding something interesting on the floor. "Actually, it was, er, stick fighting. With Teyla."

John nodded knowingly, whilst subconsciously rubbing his side where he was still sporting a rather nice bruise from the last time he had sparred with Teyla. He had been on the wrong end of her sticks more than a few times, and knew exactly where the runner was coming from. "Hey. There's no shame in it. She can pack one hell of a punch. She's landed me in here a few times as well."

"Anyway. Why are you still here?"

"Because, doc doesn't trust me." He made sure to shout the last part to make sure that Carson heard him as he was making his way across the infirmary.

"Colonel. I'll not have this conversation with you, _again. _It's your own fault that you're stuck here, perhaps next time you have a concussion and a few broken ribs you'll think twice before telling me that it's just a slight headache and a bruise." Spotting Ronon's black eye Carson turned his attention to the runner. "Bloody hell lad. What happened to you? You look like you've been in a fight."

"He has. Teyla beat him up." John quickly decided that perhaps that hadn't been the smartest thing to say as Ronon gave him his best glare, usually reserved for the Wraith, but then again he was safe as long as he was in the infirmary. He had already decided before the runner had entered that if he was going to be miserable then everyone around him would just have to be miserable too, and Ronon had just happened to be his first unsuspecting victim.

"Yes. Thank you Colonel. Now Ronon why don't you tell me what happened."

"It's what he said. I was stick fighting with Teyla." John watched as Ronon blushed again, and he decided that it had to be some kind of record. He had never even seen him blush once in the two years he'd known him, let alone twice in five minutes. And that was when it hit him that Ronon could serve to be his ticket out of the infirmary.

"Have you got a headache? Nausea? Double vision? Anything else you want to tell me about?" Carson was now in full doctor mode, and John decided that it would be best to wait until he was finished to put his plan into action.

"No.No.No, and yes. I banged my knee when I fell." John had only just caught the last part as it had barely been above a whisper. Ronon was clearly embarrassed which would serve Johns purpose perfectly.

"Well in that case. I'll go and get you an ice pack for your eye. While I'm gone take off your pants so that I can get a look at that knee." With that Carson turned, and began to make his way across the infirmary.

John took advantage of Carson's absence and decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to put his plan in place. If he felt any guilt about using Ronon's misfortune for his own personal gain, he tried not to think about it, right now he'd do anything to get out of the infirmary.

"So Ronon. You know it's my turn to write the weekly briefing email. Everyone on Atlantis will be reading it. How unfortunate it would be if this little accident of yours were to turn up in the gossip section." John swallowed nervously at the look Ronon was currently shooting him. This was either going to end one of two ways. His plan worked and he got himself out of the infirmary. Or his plan failed, and he was going to be finding himself having a much longer stay. "So anyway, I could forget that I ever saw you here, and if anyone asked me why you were limping, well then I'd say that you'd done it saving the lives of some of the Athosian's, kids, Athosian kids. But of course you'd have to do something for me." John wasn't so sure anymore that this had been a good idea as Ronon limped his way over to his bed.

"What?"

"Get me out of here. Tell Beckett that you'll keep an eye on me." At the questioning look Ronon was giving him, he added. "The only reason I'm still here, while McKay got to leave was because Beckett thinks I can't be trusted to tell him if anything else happens with these stupid devices."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. Okay. I'll do it."

"Do what. And what are you doing out of bed. If you've done any damage to that knee you're only making it worse by walking on it. Now get back on that bed." John wondered what it was that made everyone, even Ronon obey Carson's orders without question, well with the exception of himself that is, as he watched as Ronon swiftly, as swiftly as you can while limping with a bad knee made his way silently back to his bed. "Now, what were you talking about?"

"Ronon was just saying that he'd be happy to be my baby sitter for you if you'd let me leave the infirmary."

Carson looked from John to Ronon disbelievingly. There was more to this then met the eye.

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"Look, Ronon." John stopped suddenly in the middle of the corridor before turning to face the runner. "I know you promised Carson you'd watch me, but really I don't need a babysitter. Besides I'm sure you have more important things to be getting on with."

"No, not really. Besides he said something about big pointy needles being involved in my next physical if I let you out of my sight."

"Well okay I could see…" John placed his hand over his mouth, unable to stifle a yawn. "Excuse me. Anyway as I was saying I could see how that would be a good incentive to follow through on the whole babysitter thing, but I have an even bigger incentive not to follow me." At Ronon's puzzled expression he added, "I'm headed to the labs to see Rodney." Ronon's expression remained unwavering. "A tired, cranky Rodney."

That had the desired effect as John saw realisation dawn across his face. They'd all had to deal with Rodney at one time or another when he'd gone a couple of days without sleep, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

"Maybe I'll just leave you too it. But you owe me one." Ronon turned, and began to make his way back down the corridor.

"If Beckett finds out I'll just tell him I ran, and you couldn't keep up." Ronon stopped halfway down the corridor, before turning and giving him a look that said, _you wish._

"Hey. It's believable, besides you have a busted knee." As Ronon continued to give him _the look_ he flashed back to the time that Ronon had been shot with an arrow, right through the leg, and he'd still managed to out run them all. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that believable after all. "I know, how about I tell him I used my gene to lock a couple of doors behind me, Atlantis loves me, remember. That he would have to believe." _I hope._ He couldn't help but worry what Ronon would have in store for him if Beckett were to find out that he had simply let him leave.

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John was round the corner from Rodney's lab when he heard it. An explosion. Running as fast as he could in his current sluggish state, he turned the corner to find smoke billowing out of the lab.

Keying his radio, he yelled, "Carson. I need you down in Rodney's lab. Now!"

"_What the bloody hell's he done this time?"_ Carson sounded pissed.

"There's been some kind of explosion in his lab. I don't know if anyone was hurt, but knowing our luck someone will have been injured. I'm heading in to check it out now."

"_You and Ronon be careful Colonel. I don't want to have to deal with anymore injuries than necessary." _

John had almost forgotten that when Carson arrived he would be expecting Ronon to be with him. He keyed his radio once again, "Ronon. I need you to come down to Rodney's lab. I don't have time to explain, except to say that Carson's on his way so you better hurry."

"_On my way." _

Pulling the sleeve of his jacket down over his hand, before placing his hand over his mouth to try to stave off the effects of the smoke, John entered the lab. Bits of ancient tech scattered the floor, whilst pieces of singed paper floated down from the ceiling, and John found it strange that with all the sophisticated technology they had brought with them, there were still those on the science staff who used paper.

Making his way further into the room, he squinted through the smoke trying to find any errant scientists who might be laying unconscious somewhere, and that made his heart clench. If Rodney had been caught in the explosion, and was now lying unconscious what would the device be doing to him? He had to find him, and quickly.

That's when John saw him, he could just make out the outline of a figure lying unconscious in the corner of the room. He was halfway across the room when he was startled by someone entering behind him.

"What the…What's he done this time. I swear if the man had an ounce of common sense he'd be dangerous. I told him those calculations were wrong, but would he listen. Noooo. Of course not. Because I don't know anything do I, I'm just the Chief Scientist on this expedition, with more degrees than the rest of them put together. I swear, if he's broken anything, I'll kill him, if he hasn't already done that for me."

John was torn between strangling the very conscious, and obviously unharmed McKay, or helping the unconscious, who was that?"

"What the… Rodney? I thought." He glanced at the unconscious figure.

"Oh yes, thank you very much. You really think, even being tired that I would be stupid enough to blow up my lab."

John was about to point out the fact that Rodney had blown up a lot more than just a lab, Duranda sprang to mind, when he had blown up three quarters of a solar system, when he heard a moan emanating from the figure behind him.

Making his way across the lab, he could just about make out the features of one Dr. Calvin Kavanaugh. He should have known. Kavanaugh had an unhealthy habit of always thinking he was right, whilst everyone around him was always wrong. Of course, the same could be said for Rodney, except that in Rodney's case he usually was right. Unlike Kavanaugh he had the brains to back up his claims of brilliance.

John found himself being pushed aside as Carson, and a medical team swept into the lab. Like a well oiled machine, they had the scientist checked out, and loaded onto the gurney within minutes. He could have sworn that he heard Kavanaugh mutter, "this is all your fault McKay." from under the oxygen mask, as the gurney was wheeled past him.

Carson stayed behind whilst his medical staff wheeled the gurney off down the corridor. He turned to face Rodney. "Rodney. Are you alright lad? Were you caught in the explosion too?"

Rodney, staring into space, snapped his head up to glare at Carson. "Of course I wasn't. This never would have happened if that idiot had just listened to me. I told him that his calculations were off, but he obviously thought he knew better, as always. He must have tried to activate it while I went for a cup of coffee." With that he turned and began to make his way down the hallway.

"Rodney, where are yah going?" Carson shouted after him.

Without stopping Rodney shouted back, "To talk to Elizabeth. I want that moron off my staff. Now."

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"Teyla. Hi." John didn't need to turn around to know that it was the Athosian who was stood behind him. Being of military background had it's advantages, as he could identify the members of his team from the sound of their footsteps against the floor of the balcony that he was currently occupying.

"Colonel. I heard what happened earlier in the labs. Is Doctor Kavanaugh okay?" Although practically everyone on Atlantis thought of Calvin as a snivelling weasel, who had been all to ready to condemn him and his team when their puddle jumper had become lodged in the Stargate, Teyla's voice held real concern.

"He will be." John continued to look out over the ocean, where the sun was reflecting off of the waves. He loved to come out onto this balcony and just sit, and think. This was his balcony. "Although I'm not so sure about Rodney. Kavanaugh's claiming that the explosion was his fault. He told Carson that Rodney was fiddling with the device before he left to get a coffee. He _claims_ that he was on the other side of the lab when it exploded."

John glanced sideways briefly as he felt a hand on his arm before Teyla was sitting next to him. "What do you think?"

He sighed. "I don't know. We all know Kavanaugh's a complete weasel," Seeing Teyla's confused expression, he added. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. Anyway, he's lied before, but I don't know. Rodney's tired. We both are. It's quite possible that it was his fault, and he's just scared to admit that he's not fully in control right now. Hell, I'll admit that I'm scared"

"Colonel." Catching his disapproving glance, she amended, "John. I know that having no control over this situation is difficult for you. But I also know that if you and Rodney are to get through this, then you must rely on each other. I'm am in no doubt that if there is doubt in your mind over the cause of the accident, then there will be the same in Rodney's. You need to go and talk to him John. I hate to say this, but until we find a way to remove the devices things are only going to get worse before they get better. Go talk to Rodney, John." She placed emphasis on the last, before leaving him alone with his thoughts once more.

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"Rodney?" John found him sitting alone in the dark, amongst the wreckage of what had once been his lab, staring off into space. Getting no reaction from the scientist John placed his hand on his shoulder. "Rodney?"

When Rodney looked up at him John couldn't help but notice that he looked lost. "He was right you know. It was my fault. I didn't notice that I'd left it on. I could have killed someone."

"Look Rodney. I know you're scared, but we can get through this. Together."

Rodney turned angrily to face John. "Scared. Who said I was scared? How dare you presume to tell me how I'm feeling, you have no idea."

"Shut up Mckay. For once in you're life just shut up and listen. I know you're scared because I am too. I'm scared of losing control. Scared that if anything were to happen then I wont be able to protect the city. I'm scared of what's going to happen ten days from now if Carson can't figure out these stupid devices."

Rodney sat silently contemplating the impact of John's words. He didn't think that he had ever heard John Sheppard admit to being scared before.

"I'm sorry, for you know being a complete arse earlier back in the infirmary."

John looked up from staring at the floor. "Thanks."

There was a few moments of silence before, "Don't you have something to say to me?"

"Like what?"

"Don't you have anything to apologise for?"

"Why?"

"Well, that's how this is supposed to work. I apologise, and then you apologise"

John smirked, before tapping Rodney on the shoulder. "Come on McKay."

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Rodney wanted to turn and run. As soon as he'd walked up the steps to Elizabeth's office to find Elizabeth, Carson and Kate Heightmeyer, the base psychiatrist waiting for them he knew that he wouldn't be enjoying this meeting.

"Rodney. John. Please have a seat." He didn't like the way that Elizabeth was smiling at him, entirely too forced.

Rodney chose the seat furthest away from Kate, leaving John to glare at him before taking the seat next to her.

"I won't beat around the bush. We all know why were here." Elizabeth steepled her hands on the table in front of her before turning her gaze to Carson. "How is _Dr_." And she said it with a sneer, as though she thought he was wholly unqualified for the title. "Kavanaugh."

"Ach. He'll be fine. Just a few cuts and bruises, and a mild concussion. I should be able to release him by tomorrow." _Mercifully._

"How about the research into the removal of the devices?" Her voice held a tinge of hope that was quickly dashed by the expression on Carson's face.

"No joy yet, I'm afraid." He turned to face John and Rodney, giving them an apologetic smile before continuing. "We're still working on it, of course. The truth is that we're in way over our heads. We're not going to be able to come up with the solution overnight. If we could just go back…"

"No! I've already said that we're not going back to that damn planet. Why the hell wont you listen to me."

"Colonel!" All eyes were turned in his direction, and he could see shock in every one, he'd even shocked himself. He had no idea where that came from. Great. Just great. Way to have a freak out in front of the psychiatrist. Next they'd be ordering him to talk to Heightmeyer.

"Erm, I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."

"It's perfectly natural Colonel. Irritability is one of the first signs of sleep deprivation."

"Oh please. Next you'll be telling me that it was okay that I blew up a lab, perfectly natural. Nothing about this is natural. I have an alien device attached to my nervous system, I haven't slept in close to 48 hours, and I'm making stupid mistakes that even the rest of the morons on my staff wouldn't make."

"Actually Rodney, that's the reason that we called you both down here." She looked over to Carson and Heightmeyer who nodded imperceptibly. "We don't think that you should be working in the labs until this thing is sorted out."

"What! You can't do that. What the hell am I supposed to do."

"Well, you could always help me break in the new batch of marines that arrive on the Daedalus tomorrow."

"Actually Colonel…"

"No. Don't even think of telling me that I can't do that. What harm am I going to do. All I'm going to be doing is talking to them. Besides Lorne's going to be there. He'll make sure I don't blow any of them up." John had to stifle a laugh which quickly turned into a yawn.

Rodney yawned too, why was it that yawns always seemed to be catching, before replying, "Oh haha very funny. Let's all make fun of McKay."

"I'm sorry, it's just you make it so easy."

This time it was Carson's turn to stifle a laugh as Elizabeth stood up from her chair, before shouting over them. "Boys, boys. Would you listen, please." Turning their attention back to Elizabeth like two naughty children who'd just received a telling off from mum, they sat silently waiting. "Thank you. John you can greet the new marines, and Rodney you can go with him. But neither of you are allowed near any of the labs, or any of the other critical systems. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Well in that case. Dismissed."

Rodney was out of his chair before she'd even finished speaking, with John following close behind him. Elizabeth let out a slow deep breath, whilst counting to ten. Sometimes she honestly felt more like a school teacher than the head of an international expedition consisting of some of the finest minds in the galaxy.

"Well that went well."

"Oh aye. Rodney took it better than expected. Although I am worried about them. The Colonel already seems to be very irritable, and that's only going to get worse as time goes on. Actually things are going to get a lot worse unless I can figure this out soon.

"I think we just need to keep an eye on them, without letting them know that we're doing so. It's going to be important for them to be doing stuff to keep their minds occupied so that they don't start to fall asleep, we just have to make sure that they aren't allowed around anything dangerous as they're going to have practically no concentration at all in a couple of days. Coupled with the other side effects, I think we're all in for a rough few days."

"I think we should fill Ronon and Teyla in what to expect from them over the next few days as well. They're the ones that are going to have the closest interaction with the Colonel and Dr. McKay, and I think it's only fair that we let them know what to expect."

A/N: Okay so I know I promised whump, and well there was a bit, just of the mental variety. Things are going to get progressively worse from here on in. Plenty more whump to come.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry the update took so long. I've had major computer troubles, lost it for three days whilst trying to find a solution that wouldn't mean having to do a complete restore, which I had to do in the end anyway. So I lost a chunk of this chapter which I had to rewrite, but I think it turned out okay. Updates will be a lot more frequent again.

Chapter 6

How they had managed to survive the night he would never know. It had been a bit hairy for a few moments when he'd found himself dropping off, before being shocked back into the waking world. He really didn't even want to think about the days ahead.

They'd managed to amuse themselves last night, while the rest of Atlantis slept by watching all three Harry Potter films. He still couldn't quite believe that John had never seen them before. Somewhere around the middle of 'The Chamber of Secrets' he'd lost interest when his vision had begun to blur, causing Harry, Ron and Hermione to appear a lot like the energy creature he'd had an all to close encounter with when they had first arrived. Right around the beginning of the 'Prisoner of Azkaban' the dull headache had settled in, and he would have to ask Carson for some Tylenol to take care of that when they went for the scheduled check in.

As they made their slow way towards the mess hall, towards coffee, John found himself getting worried. Rodney was quiet, too quiet, had been for a long time. But then again if Rodney was experiencing the same symptoms that John was he really shouldn't be surprised. Right now, any noise was bad noise, and what the hell was up with his eyes. Sure he'd had the blurred vision thing before when he'd gone too long without sleep, but everyone was beginning to look like an extra from 'the blob'.

He could practically hear Rodney salivating at the smell of coffee as they neared the mess hall. It had taken John a while to get used to the fact that he didn't even have to think to open doors here on Atlantis, they just did it automatically. That's why he didn't slow his pace as he approached the door, it would open , it always did. Except not today apparently as he ended up walking face first into the still, definitely closed door. If this was someone's idea of a joke then it certainly wasn't funny.

"What the hell? Rodney I'm really not in the mood right now." John turned to find Rodney one step away from his face. He apparently had been expecting the door to open as well.

"Why are you blaming me? This isn't my fault. Why is it always my fault when things don't work around here?"

"Perhaps, because the only reason a door doesn't open when I get near it is because someone's told it not too. So really, not funny. Now open the damn door."

Rodney held up his hands placatingly, he really didn't like the look that John had in his eyes. There was a flicker of barely suppressed anger that seemed to disappear as quickly as it had come. Rodney had seen that look used many times on their enemies, but never on him, and for the first time, even if only for a second, he'd been scared of John Sheppard.

"Look, erm. Maybe you just have to think it open?"

"What?" John was looking at him as if he'd just said the most stupid thing in the world.

"Well, you know. Maybe because of this whole no sleep thing, you might actually have to think about opening the doors like the rest of us."

"Oh well, isn't that just great." John turned his attention back to the door, glaring at it as though he thought he might be able to intimidate it into opening.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, because it's such a huge inconvenience for you to actually have to _think_ about opening the door. It's not as if you actually have to touch the control crystal or anything."

_Thinking_ at the door had the desires effect as it slid open smoothly to reveal a very loud, very busy mess hall, and John wasn't sure that he really wanted to go in there, except the lure of coffee was too appealing.

They'd barely made it halfway across the room before Rodney was being stopped by a short, blonde woman with glasses, asking for his opinion on some project or another. Just because Rodney had been banned from the labs it didn't stop people pestering him about work related problems at all times of the day and night, and for the first time John was beginning to see just how much Rodney truly did for Atlantis, and that when he said that they would fall apart without him, it was probably true.

John waited for Rodney for about thirty seconds before the enticing smell of fresh coffee became all to appealing. He tried to ignore the longing glances Rodney was throwing his way as he poured himself a cup of what on a normal day he would describe as the worst coffee he'd ever tasted, but today would be pure heaven. Making his way down the food line he eyed the breakfast suspiciously, even on a good day he wasn't much of a breakfast person, but he would be visiting Carson in less than an hour, and although he knew he would be able to resist the doctors questioning, he knew Rodney wouldn't stand a chance. In fact Rodney would probably rat him out just for the hell of it. He snagged a piece of lukewarm, burnt toast, the downside of being one of the last people to get to the mess hall, and you would have thought that with the fact that they hadn't actually been to bed, they would have been one of the first for a change. They would have been, had they been bothered to actually move this morning, but it had taken a good hour of continuous, _right, I'm getting up now, _and _Ok, we really need to move now_, before McKay had pointed out that if they didn't make their way down to the mess hall, then Carson, and Elizabeth would only panic and send out a search team for them. And how embarrassing would that have been, _Sorry, we were on our way really, honest._

He turned to find Teyla waving at him from their usual table in the corner, where Ronon was too engrossed in his food to pay any attention to anything that was going on around him, that was something that John had learnt very early on, never interrupt Ronon when he's eating, the same rule that applied to Rodney. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder to see that McKay had finally managed to break away from his scientist, and was making his own slow way towards the coffee, before joining the rest of his team.

He'd only just sat down when he heard it, and it really didn't bode well for whoever was on mess duty today.

"You have got to be kidding me. Please tell me that this is some kind of sick joke."

"I'm sorry sir, but like I already said we're fresh out of coffee. Colonel Sheppard took the last cup. There should be a fresh batch ready in about twenty minutes."

"Oh, he did, did he. Thank you, Corporal…"

"Simmons, sir."

Taking note of the name John realised that the Corporal was relatively new to Atlantis, and had obviously never seen a caffeine deprived McKay before, as he had stood his ground relatively calmly, whereas some of the more seasoned personnel would have been falling over backwards to get McKay his coffee. As Rodney stalked his way menacingly over towards the table, John couldn't help but imagine some of the worst punishment possible for this new marine. Seeing where this was headed John grabbed his coffee mug, and cradled it protectively against his chest. Rodney was, to say he was pissed would be an understatement, John thought he looked downright scary.

"Sheppard, hand over that coffee."

Rodney seemed oblivious to the fact that the entire mess had fallen silent around them, and that all eyes were now on them, as Rodney continued to glare down at him.

Standing up to look Rodney square in the eyes, John took a slow, deliberate sip from his mug, before plastering on a big cheesy grin, proclaiming, "Wow, that's some good coffee."

"Colonel, seriously, give me that coffee, or I'll…"

"You'll what. Hit me. Shoot me." Perhaps in retrospect laughing hadn't been the smartest thing he'd ever done. But then again, neither was denying coffee to a sleep deprived, caffeine deprived Rodney McKay. He'd been too slow to react as Rodney knocked the mug from his hands sending coffee flying everywhere, covering not only him, but Ronon and Teyla too, and ow, that was hot.

John saw red, literally. Wasn't quite sure what he was thinking, if he was even thinking at all, as his fist flew up and hit McKay square in the jaw. Before he knew it Rodney had him sprawled on his back across the table, his weight pressing down on top of him, constricting the flow of air to his lungs, before a swift blow to his right eye.

As his vision began to grey John was able to free his left leg from under Rodney, striking out at whatever he could, he must have found a sensitive area because he heard Rodney yelp, before the weight on his chest began to ease.

Pulling himself up onto shaky arms he was able to see exactly where he'd hit, as Rodney was bent inwards, breathing heavily, whilst his hands were protectively covering his crotch, and John couldn't help but feel satisfaction.

He didn't have time to gloat though, as Rodney straightened up before lunging at him, managing to get another blow, this time to John's left eye, before Ronon was grabbing both his flailing arms, dragging him backwards, away from John. John was about to take advantage of Rodney's current state of vulnerability, before he found himself flying through the air, before landing on his back, with Teyla glaring down at him, before raising an eyebrow as though daring him to move.

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"Bloody hell. What have you done this time?" Carson was staring, unable to keep the slight annoyance at their current appearance out of his voice.

"Rodney wanted coffee." Teyla stated, matter of factly as though that should explain everything.

"Sheppard didn't want to share." Ronon added, helpfully.

Carson was about to ask for a more comprehensive explanation as to why John was currently sporting a rather nasty looking black eye, and Rodney was doing an excellent impression of John Wayne, when he was interrupted by the appearance of a rather flushed, out of breath Elizabeth Weir.

"I was told there was an incident in the mess hall." Her voice trailed off as she took in the appearance of her premiere team. Wrinkling her nose, she added, "What's that smell?"

"Coffee." John was looking down at his hands, thinking that he'd rather be anywhere else than here right now. How was he going to explain, that he and McKay had gotten into a fist fight over coffee. It sounded ridiculous now that he thought about it, something a toddler would do, throwing a tantrum over something so stupid, but at the time, when McKay had spilt his coffee back in the mess, it had seemed like a perfectly logical thing to do. He really hadn't thought about it, just acted on instinct, and that scared him. He was losing control, couldn't afford to lose control, whenever he did people ended up getting hurt, and if this was how he was going to react over a spilt cup of coffee, he really didn't want to think about how he'd deal with something more serious.

McKay who's eyes had began to droop the minute he sat down on the edge of the infirmary bed, quickly snapped them open at the mention of coffee. "Coffee? Where?" His eyes were darting around the room,expectantly searching out the ever elusive stimulant.

"Colonel Sheppard was simply stating that what Dr. Weir can smell was coffee."

Rodney's face fell, "So there is no coffee?" He looked hopefully up at Carson, as though he might be able to make a coffee magically appear.

Carson chuckled before making his way over to John to get a closer look at his eye, which was now a deep purple. "Sorry Rodney, no coffee. Why don't you tell me what happened, and I'll send Melissa out to see if she can get you a cup." Carson knew the best methods of getting information out of all of his patients, and he knew for Rodney the lure of coffee would be too appealing to turn down.

"What happened is that Colonel _coffee stealer_ over there, stole my coffee, and then wouldn't share."

John whipped his head around to face McKay, forgetting about Carson, who managed to narrowly avoid poking him in the eye. Glaring, well as close to glaring as you can get with one eye swollen shut, John retorted, "It's not my fault I got to there first."

"Oh please. I would have got there before you if it hadn't been for my incompetent staff, not being able to handle things without me for more than 24 hours. Besides, I would have shared with you."

"Yeah, right McKay. When have you ever shared anything?"

"I gave you my desert last week."

"Oh please, that does not count. The only reason you didn't eat it was because it had lemon in it."

Elizabeth glanced briefly at Teyla and Ronon, who were exchanging knowing glances, both seemed to he preparing themselves to step in should this turn into another mess hall incident, before turning her attention back to John and Rodney. Both of whom were now on their feet, looking about ready to pounce on each other. She knew prolonged sleep deprivation would make you irritable, but this was ridiculous.

"Gentlemen, please." She held up her hands before fixing them with her best you-really-don't-want-to-mess-with-me stare. "Sit down, let Carson take a look at you, and then we can discuss this like the rational adults that we are." She couldn't help mentally adding, _at least some of are._

John grumbled something under his breath that Carson couldn't quite catch before retaking his seat on the bed. He'd have to ask Elizabeth how she did that, got the Colonel to comply so easily with merely a look. It usually took the threat of big pointy needles and extended infirmary stays to get him to do anything he was told.

"Right. Now I need to examine you both, so I'm going to send the rest of your team to the waiting room, unless you think I might be needing Ronon's assistance anytime soon."

"We'll be good" Rodney mumbled to his boots

John looked seriously up at Carson, "I'll try not to kill him, but I'm honestly not promising anything."

Ignoring the brief second of fear he saw in Rodney's eyes at Sheppard's last statement, Carson turned to Ronon, Teyla and Elizabeth. "I think we'll be okay. I just need to do a quick exam, I suppose there's no point in telling you that you don't need to stick around. So you know where the waiting room is, we shouldn't be long." Seeing that none of them had made a move towards the waiting room, he added, "We'll be fine. I'll call if I need you." He looked pointedly at Ronon, and Teyla when he made his last statement.

Turning back to his patients, satisfied that they were now alone, hearing the sound of retreating footfalls, he turned first to Rodney, and then to John, before sighing. "Okay. Who wants to fill me in on exactly what happened?" As they both opened their mouths to speak, he held up a finger, "Just the facts please."

"Okay, well first of all there's something wrong with my gene. I had to actually think the door open this morning. Secondly, I don't know about McKay, but I have a pounding headache, and would really appreciate something for it." Seeing the look on Carson's face that said, stop stalling, he quickly added, "Rodney punched me because I wouldn't give him my coffee, and I may have accidentally kicked him in a rather delicate area."

"Oh, really, you _accidentally _kneed me in the crotch. How convenient."

"Rodney, you were lying on top of me, and I couldn't breath. I just kicked the first thing I could."

"Right then. Let's be having a look at you. See what damage you've done to yourselves this time." He threw Rodney a gown, drew the curtain around the bed before turning his attention back to Sheppard, who was staring off into space. "Colonel, are you okay?"

"Hmm" He snapped his attention back to Carson. "Not really. I mean I've had sleep deprivation before, lets face it we all went a few days without sleep when those Wraith hive ships were baring down on us, but this is different. I don't know if it's the fact that every time I close my eyes this damn thing, "His hand reflexively reached up to the back of his neck where the device was still firmly in place, "gives me an electric shock, or whether it's doing something else we can't detect, but I'm scared. Usually when I've gone without sleep for a few days I'm a little irritable, but today I just don't seem to be able to keep my anger in check. I'll be honest with you doc, I really wanted to rip McKay's head off earlier, over a stupid cup of coffee. I'm just scared that something else is going to happen and I'm going to seriously hurt someone."

"I'm inclined to agree with you on this one Colonel. While your latest blood work didn't show up anything unusual, it is possible that they're emitting some kind of signal or chemical into your brain that we just can't detect. The symptoms that you're describing do seem to be more intense than I would usually expect."

"Carson, are you coming sometime this year? I would like to make sure that I can still have children. I think that's a little more important than a black eye."

John simply rolled his eyes as Carson sighed, "Although, Rodney does seem to be his usual charming self."

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"Carson, how are they?" Elizabeth couldn't hide the concern from her voice. She knew that they had both only sustained minor injuries, but what worried her more was their mental state of mind, that they would get into a fist fight over something so trivial.

"Colonel Sheppard is sporting a rather nasty black eye, and Rodney has a bit of a bruised ego, they be fine, physically. Although I'm guessing you weren't really all that worried about them physically. To be honest, I'm not really sure what's going on with them. For some reason, the device is having much more of a profound effect on Colonel Sheppard, it seems to be doing something that is exacerbating the symptoms of sleep deprivation, bringing him well beyond the point of normal irritability that I would normally associate with sleep deprivation. What happened this morning has had a profound effect on him, he's scared that if something else were to happen then he might really hurt someone."

"What of Dr. McKay? Is he experiencing the same kind of symptoms as the Colonel?" This time it was Teyla who asked the question.

"Yes, and no. He is experiencing a level of irritability above normal, even for Rodney. But his symptoms don't appear to be as bad as the Colonels."

"Carson, why would these things, whatever they are be effecting John worse then Rodney?" Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest as she knitted her brows in concentration.

"Well, we already know that the reason only Colonel Sheppard and Rodney were taken was because they both have the ATA gene. My best guess at the moment is that the Colonel's bearing the brunt of the device because his gene is natural, whereas Rodney has the artificial gene."

"Are they dangerous?" Beckett had almost forget Ronon was there, leaning casually against the far wall.

"At the moment I think its more a case of them being a danger to each other than to the rest of Atlantis. Although I would recommend that they have a guard escort them around Atlantis, just to make sure that they don't end up killing each other. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to release them so that the Colonel can go and meet his new recruits from the Daedalus."

"Carson, I really don't think that's a good idea. It wouldn't really set a good example if their new CO ended up brawling with the head of the science department on their first day."

"Aye, normally I'd be inclined to agree with you, but they need to be doing something. They've already been banned from doing anything of any significance, not allowing them to at least do something constructive would be like torture. I can't give them any stimulants to keep them awake, so they need to be doing something to try to keep them from nodding off. It's already happened to them a couple of times, and those electric shocks they're receiving are not pleasant, besides which I have no idea what it might be doing to their brains every time they do receive a shock."

A/N: As always, reviews are loved and appreciated.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm back. I think that I should really begin with apologies for the sheer amount of time that it's taken me to update this. This chapter has been a complete pain, and no matter how many times I tried to write it, I had gotten to a certain point and was completely stuck. Thankfully, finally, it's written, and I can go forward into the next chapter which I'm quite excited about. Anyway, if you're still reading this after so long, thanks for sticking with me.

Chapter 7

"Major"

If Lorne was surprised to see him and Rodney he covered it well. "Sir. If you don't mind me saying so, you look like shit."

This was why he liked Lorne. He wasn't afraid to voice his opinions. He and Nick had become close since his appointment as John's second in command, John wasn't hot on the whole idea of not fraternising with his subordinates, and with such a closed society as Atlantis, it would be implausible.

"Thanks. If I look half as bad as Rodney, then it must be bad."

Lorne couldn't help but smirk as Rodney continued to stare off into space, John's insult clearly not having sunk in, until, "Hey. That is so unfair. Besides it's all your fault."

"My fault, how do you figure that out?"

"If you'd just handed your coffee over none of this would have happened."

Lorne had no idea what they were talking about, but he figured that it must have something to do with the two marines that had joined them, but he thought it best not to ask. Nick decided that it would be a good idea to change the subject, because he knew from experience that if they were allowed to continue they would be here for a long time.

"Ready to break in the newbies."

Sheppard raised a questioning eyebrow at Lorne's use of the word newbies.

"Not really. I could think of a few things I'd rather be doing. Sleeping being one of them." As if on cue he couldn't stifle the yawn that escaped his lips.

"I could certainly think of a dozen projects that I should be spending my valuable time on. But apparently I can't be trusted. I mean honestly even after two days without sleep I'm no more dangerous than the rest of those morons. Besides it was totally different when the Wraith were on their way, then it was _McKay you__'__ve hardly slept all week but we need you to fix this nuclear bomb.__"_

John couldn't argue with that, but Rodney had only been allowed anywhere near that bomb out of sheer necessity. This time was different, this time someone had already been injured because Rodney hadn't been concentrating. Granted it had only been Kavanaugh, but next time it could actually be someone John liked.

"McKay, how many of those morons as you so fondly refer to them have blown up the labs and Kavanaugh along with it."

John was slightly disturbed that Rodney actually had to think about his answer.

"Seven."

"What?"

"Seven is the number of times Kavanaugh's been blown up in the lab. But if we're talking explosions in general, then I would have to say that it would be closer to thirty."

"And I thought my job was dangerous."

"Rodney, I am surprised to see you down here." Rodney turned to find Radek Zelenka walking down the corridor towards them.

"Radek. What the hell are you doing down here?"

As much as Rodney was surprised to see Radek, Lorne seemed to have been expecting his arrival. "You here to do the orientation for the new scientists, doc?"

"Yes, as always."

"Wait. What new scientists? Nobody told me, and surely as head of department, greeting them would be my job."

"You would think so, yes. But after you left the last batch we received down here for hours, I figured it would be best if I did it."

"Yes, well, that was only because I was extremely busy, and lost track of time."

"Please, you fell asleep at your desk. Again."

"Hmm." Rodney began to stare off into space, and John was wondering if he was thinking about curling up in a nice warm bed, and going to sleep without being electrocuted. It had only been 54 hours since he'd last slept, but it was already too long. Sure they'd gone without sleep before, but only because of the threat of the Wraith bearing down on them, and of course it didn't hurt that Carson had been dosing them up with stimulants. They'd asked, of course they had, for something to keep them awake but he had refused, saying something about not knowing how stimulants would interact with the devices.

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John took in the excited and nervous faces of the new personnel as they disembarked from the Daedalus. None of them seemed to have noticed the presence of the party awaiting them, all too in awe of their surroundings to pay attention to anything else.

He couldn't explain it, had no idea where it had come from, as he felt a sudden, irrational anger at the people in front of him, still completely unaware that they were being watched.

What the hell did they think they were doing? They had just arrived on a completely alien planet, and were currently standing in an alien city, where, no doubt they had been briefed, anything could happen at anytime, and they were acting as though they were on a sightseeing tour.

Glancing sideways at Rodney he saw a trace of something, not his own anger reflected back at him, but frustration, probably due to the fact that he was being ignored, Rodney certainly wasn't the kind of person who was used to being ignored. In fact John was sure Rodney's silence couldn't last much longer.

One….two…three…

"Oh for," Rodney's voice cut across his thoughts, and John couldn't help smiling slightly as Rodney scowled at him. "What? Seriously Colonel, can't you yell at them or something. Just because I'm not currently allowed in my lab, doesn't mean that I don't have anything better to be doing than waiting for these idiots to realise that their bosses are watching them.

Ignoring him, John turned back to face the hangar deck, to find that there was no need for him to do any shouting, _yet_. Rodney's tirade, as he knew it would, had had the desired effect. Rodney wasn't exactly best known for his discretion, and the new recruits, obviously having heard him were now looking in their direction, the silent fear, mixed with awe visible on their faces.

John took a moment to really look at the men, and women in front of him. They all looked so young, too young; there were probably some fresh out of basic training. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rodney scrutinising his own scientists, who were huddled together, as far away from the military personnel as possible. Rodney's forehead crinkled slightly, and John wondered if Rodney was thinking the same as he was, but then again, knowing Rodney, he was probably off in his own little world, solving some physics problem or another, and what he had taken for a scrutinising look, was just the look he got when he was concentrating.

A glance to his other side showed him that his second-in-command had noticed the problem. Atlantis was essentially a colony. They were, for the most part, alone. The new scientists had already begun to isolate themselves, and that just couldn't happen. John had always considered the role of the scientists on Atlantis to be equally as, if not more important than that of the military. As far as he was concerned the most important role of any of the military personnel was to protect the civilians, and he needed to make sure that this new batch of recruits knew that.

Taking a step forward, John felt the irrational anger rising up in him again, as the marine assigned to 'guard' him stepped forward too. Ignoring the urge to scream at the marine, John took a deep breath before continuing.

"Okay, listen up. My name is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, your commanding officer." He indicated first to "Major Lorne, my second. This is Dr. Rodney McKay, and Dr Radek Zelenka. Atlantis is like no other posting you have ever been on, you will see and do things during your stay here that you never imagined possible. You may think you know it all, that you're prepared for anything, but believe me when I say; nothing can prepare you for this." He couldn't stifle a yawn, and wasn't this getting more than a little annoying. "Oh, excuse me. That being the perfect example. "He couldn't help but laugh at their puzzled expressions. "Never mind, I'm sure you'll understand in a couple of hours, News travels fast around here. Anyway, back to the point. Whilst I expect you to conduct yourselves as the trained military personnel that you are, I'm not really a stickler for the rules and regs. However, there is one rule that I will not compromise on. These two people," he indicated to Rodney and Radek," along with every other civilian on this base are the most important people here. If they tell you to do something, you do it without question, because at the end of the day they're the ones that'll be saving our arses with a crazy, impossible idea at the eleventh hour. These guys achieve the impossible everyday, and it's thanks to them, and the other civilians that we're all still here. I want you to be under no illusions that if it comes to a choice, there is no choice. You'll do everything within your power to keep them alive. No matter what the cost. Are we clear?!"

There was a pitiful echo of "yes sir's" from the group before him, so he yelled again, louder, "I said is that clear?!"

"Yes sir!!" This time it was barked back at him.

"Okay. Relax. Major Lorne and I are going be giving you your room assignments, in the mean time feel free to talk amongst yourselves."

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John didn't know what he was thinking, or perhaps he wasn't thinking at all, as his left hand reached down to his thigh holster. Before he had time to actually consider what he was doing his fingers had wrapped around his 9mil and he was raising it to take aim at Rodney.

Rodney didn't even flinch, a mark of just how much had happened to him since their arrival on Atlantis.

The silence that had descended eerily across the huge hangar, as all conversation died instantly, and thirty sets of eyes turned his way, was broken only by the distinctive click of a gun being cocked behind him. John smiled inwardly, as he realised that Lorne was aiming his own gun at his head, much the same way he had his trained on Rodney.

"It's alright Major," Rodney called confidently. "He's not going to shoot me; this is just his childish way of getting back at me for this morning. Make me look stupid in front of my new staff, and his macho marines. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you Colonel, but it's not going to work. Even you aren't that much of a psychopath that you would shoot me over a spilt cup of coffee."

John's anger at his new recruits lack of response to the situation was only increased as he saw them visibly relax at Rodney's words. Just because Rodney didn't believe that John would shoot him, didn't mean that he wouldn't, his second-in-command, Major Lorne, clearly wasn't so sure, and that at least should have kept them on alert.

As he pressed the gun harder into the side of Rodney's head, he saw him visibly pale.

"John, drop the gun!" Major Lorne had responded in kind, with the barrel of his gun now pressed firmly, uncomfortably into the back of John's head.

"Relax Major; I'm not going to shoot him." John replied as though this was all an everyday occurrence.

"Even so sir. You're tired. Clearly not thinking straight. I'd hate for you to do something you'd regret later."

John sighed heavily, before lowering his gun, and placing it back safely into his holster. It didn't matter now anyway, he'd administered his test, and all of the new recruits had failed. He had only five minutes ago finished telling them that they were to do anything, and everything in their power to protect Rodney, and what had they done nothing. If John had been possessed by some alien entity, or something equally as disturbing, (It had been known to happen), then Rodney could have been dead right now, and that thought did nothing to stem his anger.

Reaching forward to pat Rodney on the shoulder, he was stopped halfway as Rodney flinched. "Rodney? You didn't think I was going to shoot you did you?"

"No!" Rodney replied a little too forcefully, as though trying to convince himself of what he was saying. But Rodney was a terrible liar, it was all in the eyes, Rodney had extremely expressive eyes, and no matter how hard he tried, there was just no way that he could hide his feelings.

"I can't believe that you thought I would actually have shot you."

"I said I didn't…." at the sceptical look John was giving him, Rodney stopped mid-sentence. "Okay, fine. Maybe for a few seconds I thought, that maybe you might actually have pulled the trigger. I know I can be a pain in the arse, and you're always threatening to shoot me, but I just ignore it for what it is, a joke. But it's a little difficult to ignore when someone's pointing a loaded gun at your head, especially after this morning." Turning to his other side he said, "Radek, as you seem to think you can do a better job than me, carry on. I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me, but then again I'm sure that you'll all manage perfectly well without me." With that he turned and practically ran from the room, his guard hot on his heels.

The fact that Rodney, even for a nanosecond could believe that John might actually want to kill him, no matter what the circumstances, made him feel sick to his stomach. As he turned back to face Lorne, he couldn't fail to notice the pistol no longer aimed at him, but still held securely in his right hand, as though he perceived John as a threat. But then again, this was what he had wanted, and now that he stopped to actually think about it, maybe it hadn't been one of his better plans. This would at best mean a trip to the infirmary, and a lecture from both Carson and Elizabeth; at worst a trip to Heightmeyer's office. He doubted if the _I__'__m tired _argument would have much of an impact, and not for the first time the idea that the device was doing something more than just not letting him sleep sprang to mind.

"Lorne. Get these pathetic excuses out of my sight. Don't bother assigning them quarters; they won't be staying."

"Colonel, with all due respect; you're clearly not in the right frame of mind to be making any decisions right now. I must ask that you relinquish you gun, and Corporal Henderson will escort you to the infirmary.

"What the…Are you questioning my orders?" John couldn't believe that Lorne was doing this; especially in front of his subordinates.

"Sorry Sir, but yes." The fact that Lorne sounded sincere enough did nothing to appease John. He also couldn't help notice the formal tone with which Lorne was now addressing him. "You just got finished saying how important the civilians are, and then you threaten to shoot Dr. McKay; what else would you like me to do. If it were anyone else you'd do the same. Now please, hand over your gun, and go and let Doc Beckett check you over."

Under different circumstances John would have been proud of his 2IC, but right now he was just _pissed_. Wordlessly, he reached down towards his holster, and saw Lorne's finger twitch towards the trigger of his own gun. Yanking his gun from its holster, he practically threw it at Lorne before storming from the room.

"Henderson!" Lorne called after the retreating marine following John. "Make sure he gets to see the doc and no detours on the way."

Henderson nodded, before running to catch up with John.

Lorne silently prayed to every deity he could think of that they find a way to get those devices off, and soon. He wasn't sure how much more of this Atlantis could take.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth rounded the corner to find Rodney sitting in one of the chairs that had been placed outside her office. If he wasn't careful he appeared to be in extreme danger of falling asleep.

"Son of a…." She winced in sympathy at the shock he must have just received, but was stalled from saying anything by the way that he was glaring at her; and that defiantly didn't bode well for the conversation to come. "Oh Elizabeth, finally. Where have you been? There's a madman loose in the city, and you're what? Off taking a leisurely stole."

She would have retorted that in fact she was the one in charge around here, and she didn't have to justify her actions to anyone; had it not been for the fact that Rodney had just said that there was a madman loose in the city. Why hadn't she been informed?

"Chuck?" The technician turned to face her, and although he had been doing his best impression of someone who wasn't eavesdropping, she knew he had heard every word.

Chuck shrugged his shoulders, a quizzical look on his face before replying, "No reports of any unusual activity Dr. Weir."

"What! You mean Lorne hasn't told you?" Rodney asked, incredulous.

"Rodney. What's Major Lorne got to do with this?" Elizabeth was getting more than a little confused.

"He was there. So was, erm…" he pointed to the guard standing behind him, "him. Whatever his name is, oh and a whole bunch of new people. It's no wonder I can never remember their names, the amount of people we get passing through here. Anyway, back to the point, which was Sheppard just tried to kill me."

"Rodney." She began speaking slowly and deliberately as though what she was about to say might be difficult for Rodney to understand. "Punching you in the mess hall can not be classed as trying to kill you."

"Oh for…"he was getting more than a little tired of everyone making him out to be some kind of hypochondriac drama queen. "This has nothing to do with that; although that was bad enough. He just threatened to shoot me in front of all the new recruits."

Elizabeth looked to the guard, Matthews, who nodded slowly, before mouthing "Don't ask." _please._

"Why would…" She couldn't finish the sentence before Rodney cut across her.

"I have no idea. One minute we're standing there, the next he's got a gun pointed at me. Besides, what does it matter why he did it, isn't it bad enough that he actually did it."

She couldn't quite believe that she was hearing this; she needed Carson to figure out a way to get rid of those devices, and quickly. This was not the John Sheppard she knew. "Rodney, cut him some slack. He's tired, you both are. You're judgements are impaired right now."

"Exactly. You've got it right there. We're both tired and I'll admit I'm a little cranky, but you don't see me putting a gun to your head."

She had to concede that on that he had a fair point. "Okay, look. I'll speak to John; see if we can't work something out. Where is he now?"

"How should I know?"

"Rodney."

"I don't know or care where he is as long as it's nowhere near me. Okay."

Sensing that she was going to get nothing else out of Rodney, she tapped her radio. "Colonel Sheppard, you and I need to have a talk."

A/N: Reviews, criticisms, whatever, are greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you're still reading/enjoying this. I hope that you are. Thanks again, and see you soon with chapter 8, where I promise the guys will be getting a more equal share of the limelight.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Wow it's been a long time since I updated this, and I can only apologise. I know how frustrating it is when you have to wait so long for a story to be updated and I hate doing it to you all. I hope that this lives up to your expectations and that it was ultimately worth the wait.

Chapter 8

"Ah Colonel." Looking up from his research Carson was greeted by a disturbing sight. John was pale, drawn, the deep bags under his eyes made him look 10 years older than he was. He looked as though he might keel over at any minute. John was suffering and there was nothing that he could do about it. Recovering himself, Carson put on his game face before approaching the Colonel. "Major Lorne informed me that you'd be on your way down. What can I do for you?"

"Unless you found a way to get this DAMN thing off my neck yet, then not a lot. You can tell Lorne that I came, saw you and then I left." John didn't wait for a reply before turning towards the door of the infirmary. He'd barely made it two steps before he felt a strong grip on his shoulder. "Sgt, take your hands off me now. That's an order." There was just enough inflection in the tone to know that he wasn't messing around.

"I'm sorry sir. Major Lorne's orders were to make sure that you saw the doc."

"Right, exactly, I saw him, see right there. Hi Carson." He turned just enough to see a bewildered looking Carson watching the exchange, before waving, just to emphasise his point. Without waiting he turned back to the marine. "See, I saw him, as promised; Now we can leave." John made to move but was less than pleased when the grip on his shoulder tightened. "Sgt." It was almost a snarl.

"With all due respect Sir, you and I both know that's not what the Major had in mind. Please Colonel; I don't want to have to fight you on this."

John wasn't at all appeased by the genuine look of concern on the marines face, but he figured that he didn't really have any choice. The way that he was feeling right now he doubted he'd be able to fight his way out of a paper bag. Conceding defeat John turned back to face Carson, who directed him to an empty exam bed.

"So Colonel, care to explain to what's going on." At the Colonel's lack of response Carson assumed that the presence of his slightly overbearing marine guard was making him uncomfortable. Now wonder, geez did he have to stand so close. "Look Sgt why don't you go and wait outside. I'm sure we'll be fine here."

"No!" It was John who'd responded, panicked. "No. I think he should stay, it'll be safer."

Carson, taken aback, looked briefly to the Sgt for some kind of explanation but got none as he simply shrugged his shoulders, before turning his attention back to John.

"Colonel. John. You know you've got no reason to be scared here. I only want to help you, I won't hurt you."

John wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the way Carson was talking to him, as he'd heard him do so many times to Jinto and the other Athosian children. It really wasn't a good indication on your mental status when your doctor started babying you.

"No, but I might hurt you."

"What the hell are you talking about man? You'd never hurt anyone unless it was necessary."

"So, hitting Rodney over a cup of coffee was necessary, holding a loaded gun to Rodney's head, just to prove a point was necessary. God Carson, I came so close to killing him, my finger could have slipped, anything. I'm losing it here and it's scaring the hell out of me. Please Carson, help me."

Carson's heart felt like it was breaking. Some stupid device had succeeded where many people had failed. Broken John Sheppard. One of the strongest men he knew now sat in front of him, desperate, pleading for his help and it pained him even more to know that there was nothing he could do to help him. But maybe they might at least be able to give him some piece of mind while they figured this thing out.

--

"Elizabeth I've got the Colonel down here in the infirmary."

"Oh good, I wanted to have a word with him about something Rodney just told me, although to be honest I'm not sure how accurate his account was. He was almost hysterical when he came to my office."

"I think I'd be slightly hysterical if someone, especially someone I trusted as deeply as Rodney does the Colonel, put a loaded gun to my head."

There was silence on the other end of the radio, before, "Oh."

"Exactly. I know that Rodney can be a bit of a whiner but I doubt that he really needed to exaggerate about this one. Elizabeth, John's really not doing too well; I really need you to come down here as soon as possible."

"I'm on my way now. Give me five minutes."

--

"John!" Elizabeth entered the infirmary with a look on her face that told him more than any words could. Somebody, probably Rodney, the little snitch had already told her about what had just happened.

"Look Elizabeth, I really don't want to talk about it."

"No John, I think now is a brilliant time to talk about why I've just had Rodney in my office shouting about a madman running loose in the city. Imagine my surprise when he fingered you as that madman."

"Seriously Elizabeth. I'm fine. It was just a slight misunderstanding. Besides I'm sure that Rodney just blew it all out of proportion, you know what he's like."

"Okay. So you're telling me that you didn't put a loaded gun to Rodney's head in front of a room full of new recruits."

John, suddenly becoming self conscious in a way that he'd never felt before couldn't look Elizabeth in the eye. She was right, of course she was, there really was no way that Rodney needed to over exaggerate this situation, he'd done a pretty good job of that himself.

"I…" Honestly what could he say? There really was no way to explain to her why he'd done what he had. At the time it had seemed like the only logical thing to do in the situation, but now that he'd had time to think about it, he couldn't even get it straight in his own mind, let alone explain it to someone else.

"John, I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through right now but you've put me in a really awkward situation. My first priority has to be toward the safety of the city and everyone in it."

He knew exactly where this was heading. He began to reach down to his belt where he kept his knife. Elizabeth's eyes followed his hand; the marine still guarding him took a meaningful step forward.

"John!?" There was a hint of panic in her voice as she spoke.

"I was just going to give you my knife, and I think that perhaps in the circumstances I should go back to my quarters and stay there until Beckett can get this damn thing off of my neck." He couldn't bare this anymore, the look that he'd put in her eyes, only for a split second but it had definitely been there, fear. The same look that he'd seen in Rodney's eyes only moments ago.

Before she had a chance to respond he was making his way towards the door of the infirmary. Nodding to the marine to follow him, she shouted to his retreating back.

"Don't worry John we're going to figure this out. Soon!"

What she didn't see was the look of utter defeat that had crossed John's face. He was scared, more than he was willing to admit, that he was losing control. He'd done it without even thinking, without flinching, he had been so close, too close to killing Rodney, it would have been so easy to just have pulled that trigger. This of course wasn't the first time that John had become a danger to Atlantis, but at least when he had been turning into a bug he had been too far gone to realise what he was doing. He hadn't had to deal with the self doubt and what if's that were currently running through his mind.

--

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me?!. My day just keeps getting worse, not only do I have an alien device, doing I don't know what to my brain, but then my so called best friend holds a gun to my head and threatens to shoot me, and then I have to potty train this new bunch of," Rodney snorted, "Scientists. Seriously Elizabeth where did you get them from? But anyway, that's not enough for one day, oh no, you now decide that it would be a good idea if I was to stay in my quarters too, just in case. Is there some city wide conspiracy to test how far Rodney McKay will bend before completely snapping, because I'm warning you I'm coming pretty damn close.

"Huh. You are not so innocent yourself McKay." Radek looked up from his laptop, and Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the frown lines creased across his forehead, he looked stressed to say the least, and clearly the device was having more of an effect on Rodney than he cared to admit. Have you forgotten that you have already made two of our new colleagues cry, and another two are ready to leave already."

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. She'd heard this all before more times than she could remember. "So far I haven't heard anything unusual."

"Ah yes. Well it is not so much what he did, but how he did it."

"I'm not sure that I want to hear this but carry on."

"He decided that being smarter than any of us he would do some more work on a device that we have been unable to fix for months now. Of course being the stubborn fool that he is…

"Hey." Was all Rodney was able to get in before Radek spoke again. So as he continued to listen he gave Radek his best glare, which usually worked without much effort, but apparently it didn't have the same effect when you were fighting to keep your eyes open.

"Anyway, Rodney used his considerable charm to convince them to let them use the device on them. Of course when they questioned why he couldn't do it himself he gave them the usual speech about how of course he would do it, but they would be thanking him in a couple of weeks when they needed him and his considerable brain power to help save their arses.

Elizabeth couldn't help but chuckle to herself. "That sounds just like Rodney."

"That's the thing though Elizabeth, he's not himself, is he." It wasn't a question, just a simple statement that there was no use denying. Rodney, having gotten bored with the conversation had wandered over to an abandoned laptop and started working on the equation visible on the screen.

"John's already confined himself to his quarters, he's scared that after what happened this morning he might actually hurt someone."

Elizabeth was expecting a reaction of at least some surprise from Radek but there was none. Obviously this morning's incident must have been as bad as she had been lead to believe. "I've come down here to tell Rodney that we think it might be best if he were to stay in his quarters too."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Radek. "He will not like that, and he will not go quietly."

"Perhaps we could distract him with something shiny." As soon as she'd said it she wanted to take it back. Now was not the time for jokes, and the sad fact of the matter was that it was probably the truth. "I'm sorry. Anyway, I guess that I should get this over with before Rodney tears Dr Kusingai's head off."

Rodney having lost interest in the equation had gravitated towards poor Miko Kusinagi, who was now bearing the brunt of one of Rodney's rants, about how her work was littered with mistakes that even his five year old niece wouldn't make.

"Rodney." When there was no reply, and the tirade continued, Elizabeth made her way across the room, with all eyes resting on either her or Rodney. She placed a hand gently on his shoulder before she tried again. "Rodney?"

"Oh Elizabeth. What are you doing here?"

She was more than a little taken aback. Here she was with one of the smartest men that she knew and now he couldn't remember what had happened less than five minutes ago, her mind could help but linger momentarily on images of John, the strongest man that she knew begging her to lock him away, scared that he might hurt someone. She wasn't sure that she could cope with watching them both, losing themselves piece by piece.

--

"Surely there must be something that we can do?" It was Teyla that first broke the silence that had descended upon the briefing room.

"Actually, there might be." All eyes turned towards the open door, where Radek Zelenka stood, looking dishevelled as though he himself had hardly slept in the last few days, but then that was probably true of all the people currently seated around the briefing table. We need to go back to the planet! I think that I may have found a way to deactivate the devices but it requires what appears to be a key of some kind."

Elizabeth tried to hold back the annoyance in her voice, when she asked; "Why are we only just now finding this out?"

Radek had been expecting this and of course he'd questioned himself over it several times on his way to the briefing, how had he missed it for so long, but then of course the answer was simple. "I'm sorry Elizabeth, but you saw how Rodney was. It has been impossible to get him to sit still long enough to be able to spend any kind of time studying the device properly. The scans that I were able to do helped me somewhat, but there is no substitute for having the real thing to study."

"Okay, well lets go." Ronon was on his feet and halfway towards the door before Elizabeth responded.

"Hang on. We can't just go off half cocked, guns blazing."

"Why not?" Ronon stood in the doorway, arms folded, and a frown written across his face.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth, but I have to agree with Ronon. The Ranalians brought all of this upon themselves when they kidnapped Colonel Sheppard and Dr McKay."

"The devices are already starting to have a serious affect on them both Elizabeth; I'm not sure how much longer they can take this. If there is a chance that we can help them they we have to take the risk."

Elizabeth unfolded her arms and placed them on the desk, bracing herself as she stood from her chair. "I'm convinced. Just be careful, and" she looked pointedly at Ronon "try not to do anything you'll regret."

--

"John?" As Teyla opened the door to John's quarters she had to shield her eyes from the lights.

"Oh, sorry." Almost instantly the lights were turned down and Teyla was able to get her first proper look at John. "I'm just trying, you know, to stay awake. Hurts like the bitch when this thing goes off." He pointed to the device attached to his neck.

Teyla winced in sympathy of the thought. "I can imagine."

"Hmm" John grunted a response, before resuming his pacing of the room.

"John. I came down here to tell you that we have a plan. Radek thinks that there may be a way to deactivate the device."

John stopped pacing, and for a fleeting moment Teyla saw a look of relief wash over his face, but that relief was gone as soon as he took in the look on her own face. "What? What is it that you're not telling me?"

Teyla looked away as she spoke, not sure that she could bear to see the utter despair and hopelessness that she saw in his eyes. "We have to go back to Ranalia; Radek believes that there is a key of some sort that we need to deactivate the devices. Ronon and I are about to leave with a team of marines in a few minutes but I thought that I should inform you first."

"No."

"John, please."

"No Teyla. I will not let you, or any members of this expedition risk your lives for me. So I'm losing a little sleep, it's not as if it's going to…kill me." He trailed off at the end and Teyla had to strain to hear him. The ironic thing was that if they didn't figure this out then it would kill him and Rodney.

"John you should know us well enough by now that we can not just sit around and do nothing, especially when we know that there is a way to save you both."

"Why bother telling me Teyla if you're not going to listen to me." He laughed dryly "It's not as if I can do anything about it anyway.

"I…am sorry John. But we are going to do this."

As Teyla spoke, John saw something that made his mind reel, and his pulse quicken. Her eyes glowed, yellow. Just like Colonel Caldwell's had when he'd been possessed by that Gould. What could he do? Teyla on her own could kick his arse and then he had at least had the sticks to defend himself. If Teyla was possessed by a Gaould then in his current condition, weapon less he wouldn't stand a chance. Conceding defeat and realising for once that he was powerless, he let her leave. He'd do the only thing that he could do, radio Lorne and get him to deal with it.

--

"McKay" Ronon's voice broke the silence that filled Rodney's quarters; Rodney was nowhere to be seen. "McKay?"

"Ronon?" A small questioning voice responded from one of the darkened corners of the room.

"Yeah. I'm here buddy."

"Oh thank god you're here. They're back!"

"Back?"

"The wraith!"

"There are no wraith in the city McKay."

Rodney was almost hysterical as he stood, squaring himself up to Ronon. "What the… Can't you see them, they're everywhere. The shadows are everywhere. They have to be in the city.

Ronon grabbed hold of Rodney's shoulders and looked him square in the face. "Rodney. I am telling you that there are no wraith in the city. You designed the security systems, you know that there is no possible was for the wraith to get through the shields. There are no wraith McKay."

"Nonononono." Rodney broke free of Ronon's grasp "You're wrong, they're here. I can see them. Why can't you see them? Unless….Unless you can see them and you're working with them. This was what it was all about wasn't it. Us helping you, you coming to Atlantis, working with us all this time. You've been working with them, figuring out our defences, and of course now would be a perfect time to strike, what with John and I both incapacitated."

Ronon didn't say anything, there really wasn't anything too say. That the man he had come to think of as a friend could really believe, even in his current state that he would ever betray Atlantis, hurt. He may have done a lot of things that he wasn't proud of in his past, but he had and never would be a traitor. So not waiting for Rodney to insult him any more he turned toward the door and left.

A/N: As always comments, criticism, yelling about the length of time it took to get this chapter are all welcome.


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